.."
(173-4.)
"Foul cankering rust the hidden treasure frets,
But gold that's put to use more gold begets."
(767-8.)
At the end of the third sonnet we find the same argument:
"But if thou live, remember'd not to be,
Die single, and thine image dies with thee."
Again, in the fourth, sixth, and seventh sonnets the same plea is urged.
In the tenth sonnet the poet cries:
"Make thee another self, for love of me,
That beauty still may live in thine or thee."
And again at the end of the thirteenth sonnet:
"You had a father; let your son say so."
Every one of these sonnets contains simply the argument which is set
forth with equal force and far superior pertinence in "Venus and
Adonis."
That is, Shakespeare makes use of the passion he has felt for a woman to
give reality to the expression of his affection for the youth. No better
proof could be imagined of the fact that he never loved the youth with
passion.
In sonnet 18 Shakespeare begins to alter his note. He then tells the
youth that he will achieve immortality, not through his children, but
through Shakespeare's verses.
Pages:
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337