The speaker variously addresses his muse, his poems, and sometimes he bemoans writer’s block in this group of poems. Sonnet 96, similar to Sonnet 18 and Sonnet 36, addresses the poem itself.
First Quatrain: “Some say thy fault is youth, some wantonness”
In the first quatrain, the speaker tells the sonnet that some people discredit its value by claiming that it merely portrays adolescent values or mere lust, while others say it is that very youth that gives the sonnet “grace” and “gentle sport.” But the speaker simply avers that both grace and faults have their place in poetry, and people “more and less” recognize that fact.
And besides, he claims, the sonnet is the place where the crafty writer converts those faults into graces. The speaker is, once again, addressing his poem in order to compliment its value as well as he own writing talent that accomplishes that value.
Second Quatrain: “As on the finger of a throned queen”
The second quatrain employs a simile to compare “errors” in a sonnet to “the basest jewel” on the finger of a queen. The jewel will be considered valuable because of who wears it; the errors will be “translated” from error to truth in the sonnet. Use of the term “translate” supports the speaker’s idea that his sonnets have power through language.
Translation refers primary to language, particularly conveying one language into another. The speaker is confident that error and lack can be “translated” into truth and value in the sonnet, created by a talented craftsman.
Third Quatrain: “How many lambs might the stern wolf betray”
In the third quatrain, the speaker makes another comparison, between the sonnet and a wolf. If the wolf could “translate” or change himself into a lamb, he could make off with his prey. The speaker asks rhetorically, “How many lambs” might the wolf be able to attract through his mutation? The speaker is implying that the number is substantial.
Then the speaker asks, how many readers might the sonnet attract, if it would “use the strength of all [its] state!” The sonnet has the power to capture the minds of its readers, as a wolf has the power to capture lambs, if only the wolf and the sonnet appear in the proper form.
The Couplet: “But do not so; I love thee in such sort”
But then the speaker says to the sonnet: no dear sonnet, you need not change chameleon-like, you have my heart because you belong to me, and my skill has made you truthful and valuable, and you will reflect well on me through the skill I have employed to create you.
Commentary
Sonnet 36, in which the speaker also addresses the sonnet directly, has the identical couplet of Sonnet 96. The couplet works well with either sonnet, because in both cases the speaker is affirming his identity as the poem’s creator. In both sonnets, the fact that they will go forth and engage readers in a way that reflects on the poet is asserted.
However, even though, or perhaps because, the couplet works with both sonnets, the possibility of a publishing error exists. It is difficult to see how that would occur, but it cannot be ruled out.
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 31, Sonnet 32, Sonnet 33, Sonnet 34, Sonnet 35, Sonnet 36, Sonnet 73, Sonnet 116, Sonnet 126, Sonnet 130, Sonnet 138
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