1. Let not my love be call'd Idolatry,
2. Nor my beloved as an Idol show,
3. Since all alike my songs and praises be
4. To one, of one, still such, and ever so.
5. Kind is my love today, tomorrow kind,
6. Still constant in a wondrous excellence,
7. Therefore my verse to constancy confined,
8. One thing expressing, leaves out difference.
9. Fair, kind and true is all my argument,
10. Fair, kind, and true varying to other words,
11. And in this change is my invention spent,
12. Three themes in one, which wondrous scope affords.
13. Fair, kind, and true, have often lived alone.
14. Which three till now, never kept seat in one.
Three Themes in One
Dedication: To Elizabeth
Appealing to Elizabeth that his love for Henry not exceed the suitable bounds of him as less than a future sovereign. Or that Henry appear as less than what he is. Telling of his devotion and dedication to Henry and telling that all his songs and praises are alike in their praise. That this verse is no different. Appealing to Elizabeth to be "fair, kind and true". Finishing with the appeal that it is Elizabeth who has the power to make these three themes one as our poet requests.
1st Quatrain: (1-4)
Appealing to Elizabeth that Henry not be just a symbol to him of his truth, that his truth be real and recognized. In line 4 he states his purpose and devotion is unwavering.
2nd Quatrain: (5-8)
Playing on this the earlier constancy he talks of the constancy of his love.
3rd Quatrain: (9-12)
Lines 9 & 10 embody possibly representations of Henry (fair), himself (true), and Elizabeth (kind)
couplet (13-14),
Finally wrapping up with his appeal of their mutual relationship, mother, father, child.
Commentary:
Oxford begins by expressing the contrast of the singleness of his purpose for Elizabeth’s benefit with that of worship of her. Of course the thought that his purpose (in recognizing Henry) is completely dedicated to Elizabeth’s benefit has already expressed. The real importance of this sonnet is the revelation of the three themes which I believe symbolically link the three separate individuals of this story and provide the corroborating point that the poet is trying to reiterate.
In contrast to the preceding sonnet addressed to Henry (and truly a “Fair Youth” sonnet), this sonnet while containing the type of slanderous or argumentative remarks is very much along the lines of the message in 133 which is recognized as a “Dark Lady” sonnet. In that sonnet the poet expressed a triad of “him, myself, and thee” in this sonnet the triad is “fair, kind and true”. While 133 expresses that the three are part of his torment and here they are his argument but each is effectively the same. And of course if we take all the clues together such as that of 134 where the poet confesses that “he is thine”; along with 138 where his love swears “she is made of truth”; along with the clues of this poem, such as “my verse is to constancy confined” and “in this change is my invention spent”; it should be apparent that this is in fact to Elizabeth clearly referenced in 107 concerning the he a child he loves dearly from 108.
Line 7 of course alludes to the very thing claimed in this exegesis, that the poems all share a unified theme in "constancy confined" with the allusion to Henry's metaphorical imprisonment as well.
Vendler has the basic meaning of his love being the “religion worshiping a competing and different divinity” from Christianity. However it is an empty understanding without the larger context. For one the love is of another child (not the baby Jesus) and secondly what Vendler understands as a play on the Platonic triad (the Beauty, the Good, the True) actually represents the three individuals involved, Henry/Fair, Elizabeth/Kind, and Oxford/True.