Sonnet 123
1. No! Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change,
2. Thy pyramids built up with newer might
3. To me are nothing novel, nothing strange,
4. They are but dressings of a former sight:
5. Our dates are brief, and therefore we admire,
6. What thou dost foist upon us that is old,
7. And rather make them born to our desire,
8. Than think that we before have heard them told:
9. Thy registers and thee I both defy,
10. Not wondering at the present, nor the past,
11. For thy records and what we see doth lie,
12. Made more or less by thy continual haste:
13. This I do vow and this shall ever be,
14. I will be true, despite thy scythe and thee.
My Constancy
Dedication: To Elizabeth
Illustrating to Elizabeth the shortness of our earthly time. Explaining to her the lie of her legacy. Pledging himself to Elizabeth despite all.
1st Quatrain: (1-4)
Suggesting to the master of Time (Father), that he, Oxford, remains unchanged and that the great symbols of antiquity do not sway him.
2nd Quatrain: (5-8)
Our time spent is too short. These relics of the past might seem to speak to us but it is really we that speak to them, i.e, are imbued with our own wishes than what they were meant to represent.
3rd Quatrain: (9-12)
The previous two quatrains being a setup for this quatrain which is essentially saying I know that history can lie. He knows this because history is lying right before him.
couplet (13-14),
Thus his pledge to remain true despite Time. He pledge is true because he tells this story right here in these sonnets.
Commentary:
A progression of sorts in inventiveness as the poet strives for new vehicles for his message. Thus he appears to chastise Time for accusing him of change and trying to make old new. Oxford in contrast suggests he is demonstrating his loyalty and purpose in making things new while providing for the constancy of his purpose. The purpose of which is to show that he will never be swayed to stray from the one single goal he has and for which he writes to his subject. This is will become a theme of sorts in itself as we will see. In addition the poet reminds the subject of the lack of permanence of even of the most seemingly robust monuments. But he tells his subject he will be “true” which should be taken that he will continue to make this case and he will always remain the same even if the subject were to die. An essential component of the Sonnets being that eternity comes through lineage.
I would also suggest that the subtextual identity of Time as father is almost as important as that of Nature being mother. I believe Shakespeare only mentions father Time once in the plays, The Comedy of Errors (II, ii). So he is not a character of general interest to him. But he or at least his dominion is prominent here.
While Elizabeth lived substantially longer than almost anyone expected and into her seventies, it would have been quite conceivable that she had reached her life expectancy at a much earlier age. And it is clear Oxford was warning her of a possible impending death. And again offers the means of defiance which of course has been his argument all along.
The reference to being “true” is a clue about his own identity as he often played on the nature of “vere” (his name "de Vere") meaning truth. This argument made to the subject of his purpose to continue I would think, should seem odd and obsessive without a direct relationship and stake in the outcome of the subject needing a heir to provide for her remembrance. In addition, this is also an argument better understood as made to a monarch. And this argument for an heir will of course become a very important and explicit request as the sonnets wind down.
And that truth is contrasted with the lie in line 11 of the records and what is seen. Again the most important clue concerning the nature of this poem and how it relates to the larger whole. Again this sonnet reflects the particular perspective of Oxford in that lineage is a greater means of expressing our past than any physical monuments that we might erect. Though of course this message is probably a much truer understanding of how our past is really understood than the physical signs we invariably seek. And one for which now having DNA, provides a greater appreciation among our contemporaries. Conversely illustrating again how anachronistically Shakespeare can seem modern and contemporary yet again.
Line 9's registers yet again a way to record Elizabeth's memory much like the tables of before. Similarly utilized elsewhere in Shakespeare such as Love's Labour's Lost (I, i), "Live register'd upon our brazen tombs ".
Vendler remarks on Time’s boast of the speaker’s potential infidelity. Though in a sense, she is correct, because the poet is pledging his purpose and loyalty to Henry which is disloyalty to Elizabeth.Vendler also confuses the physical representation of the pyramids as being an attribute of time while the poet is using them to contrast that they represent a less effective reminder of ages past than he has in mind. This contrast is expressed in Q2 in that born to our desire as opposed to the other lifeless relics. Oxford in this and other sonnets is really sending the message that our lineage is really a much better and more effective way of living past ourselves. He as the 17th male in a very distinguished line of Earl’s, it is probably not surprising that he has this perspective.