Sonnet 7

Wow, so Chris clearly gave us a lot to think about with his post on Sonnet 6. I'm still trying to make sense of his explanation of finance and interest, but perhaps we can return to that another day. For now, let's look at Sonnet 7. I'll admit up front that I love how this poem so vividly describes the rising sun without once using the word "sun." And after the incredibly loose and convoluted imagery of Sonnet 6, I appreciated the clarity of image the poem had to offer. Here it is:

Lo, in the orient when the gracious light

Lifts up his burning head, each under eye

Doth homage to his new-appearing sight,

Serving with looks his sacred majesty;

And having climbed the steep-up heav'nly hill,

Resembling strong youth in his middle age,

Yet mortal looks adore his beauty still,

Attending on his golden pilgrimage.

But when from highmost pitch, with weary car,

Like feeble age he reeleth from the day,

The eyes ('fore duteous) now converted are

From his low tract and look another way.

So thou, thyself outgoing in thy noon,

Unlooked on diest unless thou get a son.

Clarity of the image aside, I think there's a lot here to investigate. First, it's hard to miss the religious language and sentiment: gracious light, sacred majesty, heav'nly hill, pilgrimage, converted. When it comes to religion, I look to the experts. (Jacob, now might be the time to read Christianity into this sonnet...please!) I was curious what our good man Booth had to say about this topic:

"The conjunction of the rising sun, religious language, and the climbing of a hill gives the whole poem vague, substantively unharnessed, but pervasive reference to the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ; the pun on "sun" and son in line 14 is obviously also pertinent to Christ, but the Christian references never solidify, never add up to the sacrilegiously complimentary analogy they point toward." So my first question: what is the "sacrilegiously complimentary analogy" to which he refers? And what do you all think? Does this poem ever add up to anything solidly Christian?

Booth goes on to say that the poem does "give an air of solemnity and miraculousness to the equation the poem implies between the sun's cyclical birth, death, and rebirth and human victory over mortality by procreation." Yes, okay, but isn't this cycle that the poem suggests of birth, death, and rebirth pretty solidly rooted in Christian theology? Again, I'm no expert, so help me out here.

The word "converted" is kind of a bomb shell here in the poem. It seems to be where all of the Christian references lead, and I love how it works with the subject of the poem when extended to the last word "son." We are abruptly pulled out of the image of the rising and setting sun and reminded that the speaker is trying to convince his subject to have some babies!

That should get us started.

Amber