Sonnet 145 is a rather shallow attempt at cleverness that does not quite succeed. The speaker sounds goofy, as he seems to be contriving a situation while he recounts the linguistic event with the lady. He does not directly address the lady as he usually does. Interestingly, this sonnet is written in iambic tetrameter, instead of the traditional pentameter, in which all of the other sonnets are written.
First Quatrain: “Those lips that Love’s own hand did make”
In the first quatrain, the speaker reports that the woman has spewed forth the expression, “I hate,” and he makes the contrast between the lips “that Love’s own hand [had] made,” and the expression of hatred that they pronounced. He reveals that she said these vile words to him even as he had been pining for her.
The speaker then begins to report a turn-around of the lady’s sentiment by stating, “But when she saw my woeful state,” which he leaves for the next quatrain. This construction is no doubt part of his attempt at cleverness by leaving the thought uncompleted.
Second Quatrain: “Straight in her heart did mercy come”
The speaker reveals that after seeing his sorrowful expression, she suddenly becomes sympathetic toward him. He makes it difficult to accept his claim, “straight in her heart did mercy come.” In early sonnets, he has painted her the epitome of evil will toward him, but now he wants to play a little game with words. The reader has to believe the speaker is deluding himself.
But, nevertheless, he claims that she changes her hatred and even chides herself for causing him pain. He would have his listener believe that she is truly sorry for using her tongue “in giving gentle doom.” She accordingly wipes clean her earlier expression of hatred and begins again.
Third Quatrain: “‘I hate,’ she alter’d with an end”
However, when she restates her expression, the same “I hate,” comes flying from her mouth. But, and here is the clever construction of which the speaker feels very proud, “she alter’d with an end, / That follow’d it as gentle day / Doth follow night, who like a fiend / From heaven to hell is flown away.” After setting up these contrasts, the speaker waits for the couplet to complete his little twist.
The Couplet: “‘I hate’ from hate away she threw”
The lady then says, “‘I hate’ from hate away she threw, / And sav’d my life, saying—‘Not you.’” She saves his life by saying she hates but not him. He is easy to please at times.
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