First Quatrain: “Like as, to make our appetites more keen”
In the first quatrain of sonnet 118, the speaker compares his ability to retain his passion and enthusiasm for writing and therefore his ability to remain centered in his Muse to the consumption of appetizers before meals and to implementation of preventative medicines.
Addressing his Muse, he tells her that in order to retain his interest and craving he commits certain acts, or exercises certain mental muscles, and he avers that those activities resemble those other physical activities.
Second Quatrain: “Even so, being full of your ne’er-cloying sweetness”
The speaker then reports that when he becomes satiated with the “ne’er-cloying sweetness” of the Muse, he finds he must use an appetizer in order to whet his satiated appetite in order to take in more of the music inspiration. But he also admits that those appetizers are “bitter sauces,” not like the sweetness of his Muse.
On the physical plane of existence, pairs of opposites rule: day/night, health/sickness, sweet/bitter, hot/cold, etc. The speaker is showing that he is quite human; he cannot appreciate all sweetness all of the time nor can he tolerate perfect health without experiencing sickness. Especially for his writer persona, he must experience both qualities of the pairs of opposites.
Thus, he reports that after finding himself “sick of welfare,” that is, faring well or being healthy all the time, he discovered that there was necessity “to be diseased.” However, he did not actually do anything to bring on true illness, he only used a preventative medicine, which makes the patient ill in order to prevent a worse illness, for example, taking a vaccine. The patient may experience a slight fever or other symptoms, but these are far preferable to having the disease itself.
Even so, the speaker is using all this as a metaphor. He does not mean that he took a physical medicine; he is referring only to a way of thinking; therefore, the medicine to which he refers is mental, his thinking process, not physical, not actually swallowing medicine.
Third Quatrain: “Thus policy in love, to anticipate”
The speaker then applies his metaphor of taking a food appetizer and preventive medical remedy to the “policy in love.” He mentally “anticipated” the “ills that were not,” but in doing so, he did experience some flaws in his thinking, but luckily, the preventive medicine worked and “brought to medicine a healthful state.”
If he had, in fact, become ill, that is, sick of his Muse to the point of abandoning her, he knows his writing ability would end. All artists must use techniques to keep themselves interested in their art so that they will continue to ply it, or they will lose their skill if they abandon it even for a short period.
The Couplet: “But thence I learn, and find the lesson true”
The speaker then concludes that he has learned his lesson: artificial stimuli are not the answer; they actually weaken the craving. His passion must be prompted by his deep spiritual urging, because “drugs poison him that so fell sick of you.” By allowing himself to feel satiated of the very inspiration that keeps him healthy, he sickens himself, and no outside remedy can help him.
 |
