SONNETS 10-21
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Sonnet 10
For shame deny that thou bear�st love to any
Who for thy self art so unprovident
Grant if thou wilt, thou art belov�d of many,
But that thou none lov�st is most evident:
For thou art so possessed with murd�rous hate,
That �gainst thy self thou stick�st not to conspire,
Seeking that beauteous roof to ruinate
Which to repair should be thy chief desire:
O change thy thought, that I may change my mind,
Shall hate be fairer lodged than gentle love?
Be as thy presence is gracious and kind,
Or to thy self at least kind hearted prove,
Make thee an other self for love of me,
That beauty still may live in thine or thee.
Sonnet 10 reiterates the logic of love defined in sonnet 9. The youth is
challenged again to accept the natural logic of life. Having defined the logic
of love for the adolescent ideologue in sonnet 9, the Poet now makes it an
unequivocal condition of his willingness to love the youth. Without an
acceptance of the logic of increase, the �self-love� of the youth is equivalent
to his being �possessed with murd�rous hate� toward the female and the Poet.
So where sonnet 9 uses the image of a �widow� to appeal to the youth�s
relationship to the female, sonnet 10 brings the focus to bear on his �love�
for the Poet. The Poet already understands the natural logic articulated in
the Sonnets, so he accepts the priority of the female over the male and the
logical requirement to increase. If the youth wants to emulate the content
of the Poet�s verse, he must appreciate the logical basis of the content.
The Poet says it is a �shame� the youth can �deny� he �loves� anyone, even
if the youth is �so unprovident� (10.2). The youth may well be loved �by
many�but that he loves �none� is �most evident� (10.4). Again the Poet accuses
him (and any wilful idealist) of being �possessed with murdrous hate� (10.5).
The youth seems oblivious (�stick�st not�) to his conspiracy against himself
as he ruins the �beautious� covering, or body, which he should desire to
�repair� (10.8) through increase.
The Poet despairingly asks the youth to �change thy thought� (10.9), so
that he can �change my mind� about the youth�s �murd�rous� attitude. Line
9, which introduces the Poet for the first time as �I�, makes it clear that the
youth needs to understand the logic of life by changing his �thought�. The
increase argument seeks to correct illogical thinking rather than encourage
the youth to be sexually profligate. The Poet wants the youth�s �hate� (10.5)
turned to �love� (10.10) so that the grace and kindness of his physical beauty
should at least prove �kind hearted� to himself (9.12).
In the couplet, the Poet insists that a willingness to �make thee another
self for love of me�is the logical condition for the youth to live in his progeny.
By presenting the logic of love in the Sonnets, Shakespeare establishes a
consistent basis for all forms of love.
Sonnet 10 is the first sonnet of the temporal pattern that involves 144
sonnets in a distribution of 12x12 (see Volume 1). The concept of time has
a logical relation to Nature only if the Poet and the youth acknowledge the
priority of Nature and the female over the male. Understanding the
contingent status of time is a precondition for appreciating the logic of truth
and beauty in sonnets 15 to 154.
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Roger Peters Copyright © 2001
Introduction
1-9
10-21
22-33
34-45
46-57
58-69
70-81
82-93
94-105
106-117
118-129
130-141
142-153
154
Emendations
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