1. O for my sake do you wish fortune chide,

2. The guilty goddess of my harmful deeds,

3. That did not better for my life provide,

4. Than public means which public manners breeds.

5. Thence comes it that my name receives a brand,

6. And almost thence my nature is subdued

7. To what it works in, like the Dyer's hand,

8. Pity me then, and wish I were renewed,

9. Whilst like a willing patient I will drink,

10. Potions of Eisel 'gainst my strong infection,

11. No bitterness that I will bitter think,

12. Nor double penance to correct correction.

13. Pity me then dear friend, and I assure ye,

14. Even that your pity is enough to cure me.

Pity Me, Dear Friend

Dedication: To Henry

Offering Henry that because of him Henry's future remains in doubt. Providing a reference to Elizabeth with the phrase, “The guilty godess". That she has not provide better for him than paying him for his good behaviour. Telling of his being subdued by the "brand" on his name. Telling of how he takes this aweful medicine so that he can overcome this and effect Henry's recognition.

1^st Quatrain: (1-4)

In line 1 he comments on that it is his fault Henry won't achieve his destiny/birth right. Referring to Elizabeth in line 2 as that "guilty goddess" of his "harmful deeds" . She that I did not make better of Oxford's finances in line 3 continuing in line 4, other than what he was given for not becoming a problem for her offices. I interpret this as his bribe for good behavior as opposed to his behavior which we saw so recently in sonnet 117 (38 by this count) where he had defied Elizabeth and left the country. Many Oxfordians have remarked that he refering to his 1000 lb. annuity granted by Elizabeth June 26, 1586. I don't believe he is, however I do think he was previously rewarded for not rocking the boat.

2^nd Quatrain: (5-8)

Line 5 again the reference to scandal in the poets life. Oxford wasn't short on these but it is again probably a reference to the events of his life surrounding his wife. Line 7 refers to the seeping stain on his name as if it were deliberate and predictable as a dyer waiting for colors to seep in. Line 8 the "wish I were renew'd" as opposed to Elizabeth who is metaphorically renewed, a subtle reference to Henry.

3rd Quatrain: (9-12)

How he will do whatever it takes to get his "friend" his recognition

couplet (13-14),

The sign of the affection that Oxford has for this boy that means everything to him.

Commentary:

Oxford begins by explaining to Henry that it is because of him that Elizabeth jeopardizes the possibility to leave him as her legacy. A common misconception of this sonnet would have fortune and the guilty goddess as the same but they are not and the subject being Henry he is the one who goads or meets with fortune’s disapproval which the poet believes is because of himself. The guilty goddess though matches well with Elizabeth.

The implicit reference that the goddess could provide other means is an explicit clue of the public means she did provide. Elizabethan England doe not provide for very many other women than the Queen herself if this is to be taken in any literal sense. In addition Elizabeth as goddess would not only be well known to Elizabethans this offers a direct relationship to how Elizabeth is portrayed inVenus and Adonis, as Venus the goddess. Henry along with Fortune chide Elizabeth for what she does, she who has supplied Oxford but mere monetary support for his cooperation with her scheme.Very likely not the 1000 lb annuity she granted him in 1586 but possibly the January 1578 award to Oxford of Castle Rising made by Elizabeth.

Also the clear address to his “friend” as someone intimately involved in the larger whole of these sonnets who is linked back to others sonnets with the same friend reference as we have seen in sonnets 149, 134, and 133. And who I maintain is also the same as the friend who is the “lovely boy” of sonnet 126. Who also appears in the sonnets as mysterious third person with references to “he” and “him”. The friend who should not to be confused with his ‘love” the person being addressed and subject of most of these sonnets.

Another element is the autobiographical aspect of the poet’s attempt to cure himself of his brand and which refers of course back to the scandal already seen, however unfortunately for Oxford, there is scandal to come.

In line 7, Dyer is capitalized it seems to reflect changing color as metaphor, something Shakespeare referenced many times in terms of flowers. Line 10 Potions of Eisel are references to vinegar, used to clean wounds frequently. Shakespeare uses in eisel in Hamlet (V, i) as well to refer to the unpleasantness of drinking it. However that he makes it a proper noun again seems to me to infer that Henry is the cure to this infection. Which the couplet reinforces.

Vendler and others made another edit at the beginning of this sonnet to make fortune in line 1 read Fortune as an attempt to make Fortune the subject of the poem as opposed to you. Which needs to be understood as the same person who is the guilty goddess and thus has the power and means to provide for the poet the public means he refers to in line 4.