PARAPHRASE
Sonnet 87
A final good-bye to you who are too difficult for me to keep! And I am sure you know that you are very valuable. You know how your worth is more than I can afford, because my ability to keep one as valuable as you is limited. How could I keep you without your permission? And how is it that I could ever be fit to hold you? I lack such importance, and so I have no way to keep you. You gave your inspiration to me, but then apparently you did not then know your own value, or else you thought I was better equipped to accept your favors. So when you understood my poverty, you decided to abandon me. So it seems that I dreamed that I was more valuable than I thought I was, for when I woke, I realized the truth.
COMMENTARY
First Quatrain: “Farewell! thou art too dear for my possessing”
In the first quatrain, the speaker exclaims a defiant, “Farewell!” and then adds, “thou art too dear for my possessing.” He then accuses the Muse of having a high regard for herself. The Muse knows she is too precious and difficult for the speaker to hold.
He then explains that the high value that the Muse places on her company renders it all the more proper than he should be “releasing” her. The speaker makes it clear that he understands his claim on the Muse has always been and will always be tenuous.
He is well aware that she may abandon him permanently, even as she does temporarily from time to time. Thus, he strikes out boldly by beating her to the punch—releasing her before she abandons him.
Second Quatrain: “For how do I hold thee but by thy granting?”
The speaker then adopts a fluid style as he asks of his Muse, “For how do I hold thee but by they granting?” He proclaims repeatedly that he does not deserve the “riches” that the Muse has heretofore bestowed upon him. So he has no complaint that she should take back her inspiration.
Third Quatrain: “Thyself thou gav’st, thy own worth then not knowing”
In the third quatrain, the speaker draws back a bit and notes that the Muse probably gave him a store of her inspiration not realizing her own worth at the time. Then when she finally realized her value, she decided to take it back. She judged it better to refrain from inspiring the speaker further.
The Couplet: “Thus have I had thee, as a dream doth flatter”
The speaker then likens his early encounters with the Muse to that of a dream. In the dream, he thought he was a king, but when he woke up, he realized that he had been mistaken.
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, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 96, 116, 126, 130, 138, 146
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