Return to Shakespeare's Sonnet 83 |
1-2.
painting: In Shakespeare's time "paint" and "painting" were the words used for cosmetics and the application of cosmetics.
2.
fair: beauty. set: applied.
4.
barren: meager; unproductive. tender: offering. debt: i.e., payment of an amount due.
5.
slept in your report: i.e., written no poem about you.
6.
That: Because.
7.
modern: i.e., currently fashionable.
14.
both your poets: i.e., the poet speaking in this poem and the rival poet who, presumably, writes poems which apply painting to the natural beauty of the fair youth.