PARAPHRASE OF SONNET 75
As food is to the body so are you to my soul and mind,
Or as spring showers are to the ground;
And for the contentment you bring me I allow such inner strife
As the conflict between a miser and his money;
Who takes joy in his wealth, but soon
Fears that ruthless competitors will steal his treasure,
Now thinking it best to have you alone,
Then thinking that the world should see how happy I am;
At one moment wholly satisfied by feasting on your sight
And the next moment utterly starved for a look at you:
Having or seeking no pleasure
Except what you have given me or what I will demand.
And so I starve or feed to excess depending on the day,
Either gorging on you, or not having you at all.
COMMENTARY
The sonnet opens with a seemingly joyous and innocent tribute to the young friend who is vital to the poet's emotional well being. However, the poet quickly establishes the negative aspect of his dependence on his beloved, and the complimentary metaphor that the friend is food for his soul decays into ugly imagery of the poet alternating between starving and gorging himself on that food. The poet is disgusted and frightened by his dependence on the young friend. He is consumed by guilt over his passion. Words with implicit sexual meanings permeate the sonnet -- "enjoyer", "treasure", "pursuing", "possessing", "had" -- as do allusions to five of the seven "deadly" sins -- avarice (4), gluttony (9, 14), pride (5), lust (12), and envy (6). Such language of sensual "feasting" (9), uncontrollable urges, and sinful consumption makes it hard to ignore the erotic relationship between the poet and the young man. The notion asserted by critics like A. L. Rowse that the poet's feelings for his friend are "not at all homosexual" (Rowse xvii) is indeed hard to justify.
Although evidence is not conclusive, it is assumed that Shakespeare is discussing his patron, the Earl of Southampton. Identifying the young man as Shakespeare's patron adds a deeper facet to the sonnet. No longer is the poet afraid that the young man will be stolen by another, younger lover simply for a sexual relationship, but by another young poet in need of patronage. Shakespeare is worried that his "treasure" is being "filched" by another emerging writer. Thus Shakespeare is in jeopardy of losing not only a friend and lover, but also his financial backing. Which emerging poet is about to steal Shakespeare's treasure? It is probably the rival poet, the wielder of the "alien pen" (78.3) who takes the foreground in sonnets 78-86. From other sonnets (in particular, 82) we see that the young patron liked to associate with his intellectual friends who were highly educated at the most prestigious universities. Maybe the rival poet was an Oxford man, like Lyly, Sidney, or Chapman. Maybe he was a Cambridge man like Marlowe, Greene, or Nashe. Whoever the rival poet was, he caused the insecure and covetous Shakespeare no end of grief.
| 