De Vere's Love Poem
‘Whenas the heart at tennis plays, and men to gaming fall’
First Quatrain: “Whenas the heart at tennis plays, and men to gaming fall”
In the first quatrain, the speaker suggests that the two hearts involved in the romance of falling in love behave as two people playing tennis: “Love is the court, hope is the house, and favour serves the ball.”
The speaker then claims that “The ball itself is true desert; the line, which measure shows, / Is reason, whereon judgment looks how players win or lose.” The idea of winning and losing refers to the success of each lover in accomplishing the goals each takes for itself in the love relationship. The tennis ball might metaphorically compare to love-letters, conversations, or other exchanges of love between the two partners, while the “line, which measure shows” is the gauge for judgment of each partner or “reason.”
Second Quatrain: “The jetty is deceitful guile; the stopper, jealousy”
The second quatrain likens all of the negative activities that lovers might engage in while trying to secure their relationship: “The jetty is deceitful guile; the stopper, jealousy, / Which hath Sir Argus' hundred eyes wherewith to watch and pry.” Because of jealousy especially, the over-zealous love might seem to have a “hundred eyes” as he watches every move his beloved makes.
Lacking “wit and sense” such a jealous lover finds “The fault, wherewith fifteen is lost / and “he that brings the racket in is double diligence.” He loses his joy in fantasy and instead of easily returning the volley of love messages, loses his patience and fails to play as a tennis player who out of anger breaks the tennis racket and stalks off the court.
Third Quatrain: “And lo, the racket is freewill, which makes the ball rebound”On the other hand, the tennis racket should compare to “freewill” because it keeps the ball in play, which has a “noble beauty” as the players chase the ball over the court. But the kind of “rashness” that “the stopper” would engage would cause the “ball” to go “awry.” And those who are watching the “game” would gladly cheer as the ball is properly volleyed.
Couplet: “Now, in the end, good-liking proves content the game and gain”
In the couplet, the speaker reports that a calm ever-increasing shared relationship is like a game that contains both “game and gain.” However, for the entire game or relationship, the speaker has realized that it is a game mixed with please and pain.
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Many Shakespeare scholars now believe that instead of man from Stratford it was the 17th Earl of Oxford, Edward de Vere, who wrote the works attributed to William Shakespeare. For a useful and informative essay discussing the works of de Vere and how they suggest that he was, in fact, the real “Shakespeare,” please visit “’Shakespeare’” Revealed in Oxford’s Poetry.”
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Other articles on Shakespeare: Who is Shakespeare?
Sonnet Commentaries: Sonnet 1, Sonnet 2, Sonnet 3, Sonnet 4, Sonnet 5, Sonnet 6, Sonnet 7, Sonnet 8, Sonnet 9, Sonnet 10, Sonnet 11, Sonnet 12, Sonnet 13, Sonnet 14, Sonnet 15, Sonnet 16, Sonnet 17, Sonnet 18, Sonnet 19, Sonnet 20, Sonnet 21, Sonnet 22, Sonnet 23, Sonnet 24, Sonnet 25, Sonnet 26, Sonnet 27, Sonnet 116, Sonnet 126, Sonnet 130, Sonnet 138
