The speaker/poet dramatizes the importance and function of his poetry: through his talent, his friends and lovers whom he thought dead remain alive in his poem.
First Quatrain: “Thy bosom is endeared with all hearts”
In the first quatrain, the speaker addresses his art, his poetry, telling the poem that it holds all of the former loves of his life, and even though he has thought them gone, they indeed continue to live on in his poems.
All of his friends whom he has cherished continue to live, because “there reigns Love, and all Love’s loving parts.” In his poems, he can create a special place where his dear ones will remain forever.
Second Quatrain: “How many a holy and obsequious tear”
The speaker has shed many tears because of the false notion that his dear ones had disappeared. He emphasizes the importance of the tears by labeling them “holy and obsequious.” He had cried out of duty as much as out of sorrow, for the dead seem to call forth from hearts passion and intensity.
But he realizes that the passion and intensity are only “hidden in thee,” that is, they are immortalized in his poetry.
Third Quatrain: “Thou art the grave where buried love doth live”
He is metaphorically comparing his poetry to a grave, “where buried love doth live.” But ironically, instead of merely lying in the grave, the buried love “doth live.” That is the magic of the speaker’s talent, that he has the ability to keep his love alive with his poetry. He is once again cherishing his talent for its amazing ability to transform the dead into the living.
Everything he gained from his lovers he retains by capturing it all in his poems. The poems are like a shelf that holds “the trophies of [his] lovers gone.” And now what he once owned of his former lovers belongs solely to the poems. His ability to create pieces of art enhances his life, and instead of bragging about his talent, he demonstrates his joy and passion by creating places that display the loves of his life.
The Couplet: “Their images I lov’d I view in thee”
The couplet completes the thought and makes it even more abundantly clear: “Their images I lov’d I view in thee, / And thou—all they—hast all the all of me.” His poems contain images of his lovers, and he can see them clearly anytime he chooses. He has given his whole heart, mind, and soul to this art as he creates his poems to serve as the repository of his love.
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 28, Sonnet 29, Sonnet 30, Sonnet 73, Sonnet 116, Sonnet 126, Sonnet 130, Sonnet 138
