After having mourned his inevitable demise in sonnets 73 and 74, the speaker returns to his favorite complex subject: his muse, his talent, and his ability to enshrine his deepest love in his sonnets.
First Quatrain: “So are you to my thoughts as food to life”
In the first quatrain, the speaker, addressing his muse, avers that his muse nourishes his “thoughts” as “food” nourishes human life. Furthermore, his muse enlivens him as the rain does the dry, parched earth.
He says that he is so dependent on his muse that he must make a mighty effort to calm himself in the presence of his beloved muse. He likens his relationship to that of a “miser and his wealth.” The speaker, thus, humbly deprecates himself to show that he knows he is not entirely responsible for his considerable gifts.
However, despite those gifts, he still has to strive to remain evenminded as in his passion for creating. A too nearly perfect life would distill a dullness that this speaker, while showing gratitude for his talent, must constantly strive to overcome.
Second Quatrain: “Now proud as an enjoyer, and anon”
The speaker then avers that he is proud to be able to enjoy his ability to commune with his fecund muse, but he admits that he still suffers doubts that his ability will not fade. The speaker’s humanness always demonstrates that he never becomes so self-important as to think he is more than a striving artist, despite the unique muse he has attracted.
His ability to remain humble while castigating himself for over-weaning pride actually infuses his art with precision and truth—which are the qualities he most desires to portray.
Third Quatrain: “Sometime, all full with feasting on your sight”
In the third quatrain, the speaker reports his opposing states of mind: sometimes he is able to “feast” on the muse’s bounty, and other times he is “starved” for her sight.
All artists experience such states, when creativity seems to flow unfettered and then the dreaded dry periods when nothing seems to avail.
During the dry periods, the artist has to strain for inspiration, feeling that he has to try to take whatever he can get from the unyielding muse.
The Couplet: “Thus do I pine and surfeit day by day”
The speaker ends on a plaintive note, saying that from day to day, he is tossed between those two states of mind: inspiration and lack thereof. He is at times like a glutton and other times like a man starving.
Other Shakespeare articles: Who is Shakespeare?
Sonnet Commentaries: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 96, 116, 126, 130, 138, 146
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