Sonnet 4

Unthrifty loveliness, why dost thou spend
Upon thy self thy beauty's legacy?
Nature's bequest gives nothing, but doth lend,
And being frank she lends to those are free:
Then, beauteous niggard, why dost thou abuse
The bounteous largess given thee to give?
Profitless usurer, why dost thou use
So great a sum of sums, yet canst not live?
For having traffic with thy self alone,
Thou of thy self thy sweet self dost deceive:
Then how when nature calls thee to be gone,
What acceptable audit canst thou leave?
Thy unused beauty must be tombed with thee,
Which, used, lives th' executor to be.

This poem seems to flow nicely after the last one. Last week Amber pointed out how the young man was projected into a world of other people. The figure of the wife was present as an absence for the young man. She existed as concrete concepts for him, and yet the concepts had no incarnated body it could point to. He existed in relationship with the concept “wife,” prior to having a wife to accompany the concept.

I think this notion of being-in-relationship-to prior to encountering is at play in this poem as well. But now that in-relationship-to is with nature itself. The narrator doesn’t merely verbally label the young man’s debt however; rather he activates the debt through the use of inquisition. Last sonnet we had one question, spurred by the present-absence of the embodied wife. Now we have four questions. Who, or what, is present here as a an abstraction but not as a material substance? What absence serves as the justification for the inquisition?

Why is it that “trafficking alone” is considered self-deception? The narrator doesn’t seem to think that self-love is wrong. Rather, the narrator rejects the very existence of self-love. Anyone living in a world in which the self serves as the final arbiter of meaning is living in an imaginary universe. The questions could be read as attempts to introduce weakness into the young man’s internal logic, subtly coaxing him towards the narrator’s interpretation. Do you get the sense that there is a power struggle taking place between the narrator and young man?

And who is this nature we keep hearing about? Seems like a pretty important figure.

That should get things started. Summer’s finally starting to pass here. Days aren’t as warm as they were a week ago, and the nights are getting chilly. I went out and helped slaughter two pigs on Sunday and when I got to the farmers market on Tuesday, it was already delicious sausage. I can’t believe the farmer could get it to market that quickly all by himself. If you’re looking for something to do Friday night, I suggest finding a place to listen to the Kol Nidre. It is by far the most beautiful and moving liturgy the Jews have to offer. It isn’t hard to feel the inquisitor during the opening song.