Lord of my love, to whom in vassalage
Thy merit hath my duty strongly knit,
To thee I send this written embassage,
To witness duty, not to show my wit:
Duty so great, which wit so poor as mine
May make seem bare, in wanting words to show it,
But that I hope some good conceit of thine
In thy soul’s thought, all naked, will bestow it;
Till whatsoever star that guides my moving
Points on me graciously with fair aspect
And puts apparel on my tatter’d loving,
To show me worthy of thy sweet respect:
Then may I dare to boast how I do love thee;
Till then not show my head where thou mayst prove me.
This sonnet has been seen by some as valedictory of 20-25, or even of 1 – 25. Perhaps it may be construed as an envoi to a history of courtly love, such as is typified in the first addresses to the youth. Perhaps its numerical position does have some significance, as it is placed exactly 100 before the sequence devoted to to the youth comes to an end. At any rate it begins in dramatic fashion, with echoes of biblical dimensions (I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt), and it continues with the vocabulary of the submissive vassal in front of his liege lord. The varied rhetorical tropes and figures act as a sort of undersong to the plea of inadequacy, undermining by their very existence the success of the plea. This facet or hidden side of the sonnet one cannot but see as intentional, and it adds a pleasant ‘tongue in cheek’ sense to the relationship.
‘Perhaps all is not as it seems. Perhaps you are not so lordly and I am not as unworthy as my poor wit pretends. Perhaps my loving is not as tattered as I make it out to be, and my reticence in boasting of it is a witness to my merit. Perhaps I have just that right to prove you (put you to the test) as you have to prove me’.
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