POOR SOUL,.... (SONNET NO. 146) POEM BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE AND EXPLANATION
'Poor Soul,..... (Sonnet No. 146)' Poem
Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth,
[Foiled by] 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.
Glossary
Line 1. sinful earth sinful body; flesh because the body is made of earth-dust.Line 2. (Foiled by) challenged by, opposed by
Line 2. array (v) to embellish, to adorn both 'deck out' and 'afflict'
Line 3. pine grieve
Line 3. dearth scarcity
Line 4. outward walls body
Line 5. short a lease short period or duration
Line 6. fading mansion decaying superstructure of the human body
Line 7. inheritors heirs, followers
Line 9. servant's loss loss of the body (soul's servant)
Line 10. Let that pine let 'that' body grieve
Line 10. aggravate increase
Line 11. terms period of lease
Line 11. dross scum, impurities, rubbish
Explanatory Notes
Note the rhyme scheme of this typically Shakespearean or English sonnet, abab, cdcd, efef and gg three quatrains followed by a couplet - a composition of fourteen lines.The poet starts off by describing the helplessness of the human soul which though immortal and pure suffers the danger of being tarnished because of the sinful body. Earthly and sensual forces in the form of human desires corrupt the purity of the soul. The poet addresses the human soul, thus personifying it and asks it not to pine within and suffer for what the body does. The physical aspect of the human being is shortlived, it is like a fading mansion which is uselessly beautified. Rather than concentrating upon the gullible, easily-tempted human body one must try to obtain divinity and survive beyond the limited earthly existence. By selling away the worthless, the temporal, one should acquire the immortal and divine. Shakespeare forcefully argues for the enrichment and upliftment of the soul because that shall be everlasting. In the final couplet he states paradoxically how 'Death' that feeds on man shall ultimately die and then the 'hunter' will become the 'hunted'. Finally the human body shall be eaten away by worms in the grave but the soul will triumphantly last beyond all temporal mortifications. Notice the changing tone of the poem. Initially the soul that is called poor later becomes the all-powerful and everlasting.
