Sonnet 146

Sonnet|146
Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth,
[...] these rebel powers that thee array;
Why dost thou pine within and suffer dearth,
Painting thy outward walls so costly gay?
Why so large cost, having so short a lease,
Dost thou upon thy fading mansion spend?
Shall worms, inheritors of this excess,
Eat up thy charge? is this thy body's end?
Then soul, live thou upon thy servant's loss,
And let that pine to aggravate thy store;
Buy terms divine in selling hours of dross;
Within be fed, without be rich no more:
So shalt thou feed on Death, that feeds on men,
And Death once dead, there's no more dying then.

Sonnet 146, which William Shakespeare addresses to his soul, his "sinful earth", is a pleading appeal to himself to value inner qualities and satisfaction rather than outward appearance. Lines 3-6 question as to why he places so much energy and value into outward appearance (which may be considered as social or physical) by using the metaphor of a house gaudily decorated and painted but having nothing short of famine within.:Why dost thou pine within and suffer dearth,
:Painting thy outward walls so costly gay?
Lines 7-14 reason that inner enrichment is much more important because the body is ultimately subservient to the soul, and is far more transient. The ending couplet proposes even though death "feeds" on mortal bodies, the soul will be eternal and therefore is victorious.:So shalt thou feed on Death, that feeds on men,
:And Death once dead, there's no more dying then.

The sonnet is notable for its uncharacteristically religious tone and call for moral richness, whereas most sonnets treasure earthly qualities of beauty and love.

Missing text

The missing text at the beginning of line two ( [...] ) is generally attributed to be a printing error, as in the earliest version of the sonnet, the iambic pentameter is significantly broken and "sinful earth" is repeated on both lines. Therefore Shakespeare's intention for the line is a subject of heated, if ultimately irresoluble, debate among scholars. The most popular guesses include "Thrall to", "Fool'd by", "Hemm'd by", "Foil'd by", "Fenced by", [(2004)." Sparknotes:No Fear Shakespeare: The Sonnets". New York, NY: Spark Publishing. ISBN 1-4114-0219-7. ] "Flatt'ring", "Spoil'd by" and "Feeding".

See Also: Shakespeare's sonnets

External links

* [http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/shakesonnets/section11.rhtml Sparknotes analysis of sonnet 146]

Notes