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Addressing his Muse, the speaker professes that his art will continue to be infused with the permanent beauty and spiritual strength that the heavenly Muse provides.
First Quatrain: “So shall I live, supposing thou art true”In the first quatrain of sonnet 93, the speaker addresses his Muse, alerting her that he will henceforth pretend that he believes she will not forsake him. He still chides her, insisting that he knows he will be like a “deceived husband,” but he nevertheless continues with his diversion. He will continue to believe that his Muse is true to him as he looks into her face of inspiration. Even when her endowment of motivation is “alter’d new” or changed, it is still better than dismissing her altogether. He will continue to retain her vision, even if her “heart” is “in other place.” The speaker knows that he is really the one who supplies the emotion, or heart, and the Muse is only an aid, and sometimes a crutch, for acquiring a way of seeing. Second Quatrain: “For there can live no hatred in thine eye”The speaker then avers that he can find no reason to reprimand the Muse, who knows no “hatred.” With human beings, the speaker can read changes of mood in their physical face with its “frowns, and wrinkles.” The human will display “moods” easily read by those who take note, but the Muse, being ethereal, can steal away as surreptitiously as she steals in. While the speaker insists that he loves that quality of the Muse, nevertheless, it sometimes perturbs him. After all, he is only human, even though his ambitions continuously run after so much that remains seemingly out of reach. Third Quatrain: “But heaven in thy creation did decree”But the speaker returns to his optimistic conviction that in the true face of his Muse “sweet love should ever dwell.” He knows that his own grumpiness is all he sees when he projects his foul moods upon his lovely Muse. The Muse is a reflection of “heaven,” and when the Divine created the Muse, He placed perfection with the reach of the artist, who makes the effort to court her in earnest. Regardless of the many projections the artist might cast out from his own tainted mood, the Muse will remain constant. The artist must simply learn to discern his own failures to distinguish them from the inspirations of the Muse. The Couplet: “How like Eve’s apple doth thy beauty grow”If the Muse’s beauty were an evanescent, rotting reality such as “Eve’s apple,” no artist could ever rely upon her for inspiration and guidance. The speaker avows that “sweet virtue” belongs only to the spiritual union that the Muse brings to the practicing artist, who sets his principles and goals on a lofty pedestal. 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, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 96, 116, 126, 130, 138, 146
The copyright of the article Shakespeare Sonnet 93 in British Poetry is owned by Linda Sue Grimes. Permission to republish Shakespeare Sonnet 93 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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