Sonnet 135

1. Whoever hath her wish, thou hast thy Will,

2. And Will to boot, and 'Will' in over-plus,

3. More than enough am I that vex thee still,

4. To thy sweet will making addition thus.

5. Wilt thou, whose will is large and spacious,

6. Not once vouchsafe to hide my will in thine,

7. Shall will in others seem right gracious,

8. And in my will no fair acceptance shine:

9. The sea all water, yet receives rain still,

10. And in abundance addeth to his store,

11. So thou, being rich in Will add to thy Will,

12. One will of mine to make thy large Will more.

13. Let no unkind, no fair beseechers kill,

14. Think all but one, and me in that one Will.

Your Will

Dedication: To Elizabeth

Telling her that her wishes are his Will as well. And as Will they can "make addition thus" (recognize Henry). Telling her that in vast stores can be added more and thus in her store (their child) she can add him (secretly).

1st Quatrain: (1-4)

I am guessing that Elizabeth may have received more poetry and other writings from William Shakespeare than we are aware. This is only a guess though. Perhaps "Venus and Adonis"had already been penned. We will see later how it is related to this topic. "Making addition thus" in line 4 is recognition of Henry.

2nd Quatrain: (5-8)

In one who contains so much capacity for achieving be any less. By hiding my wishes within your own will be the most gracious gift you could give.

3rd Quatrain: (9-12)

Using the analogy of the sea and rain to make the argument that there can be no excess in some scenarios. Thus that Henry only enhances her and is not in competition to her.

couplet (13-14),

Offering to her that he will be 'Will' and thus an anonymous entity


Commentary:

This sonnet expresses the notion of Oxford’s acquiesce to Elizabeth’s desires (will) both not to recognize and not to have Oxford’s paternity known. Thus again the appearance of the usage of the Will(iam Shakespeare) pseudonym. Evidence that Oxford was actually calling himself William Shakespeare in the early 1570’s was discussed earlier.

Thus again more bargaining with his own involvement in the recognition, which he tries to convey, is to be understood as completely of Elizabeth’s desire. Again using his pseudonym as a way to illustrate his anonymity and use of the word and name ‘Will” to represent that he is subjugating to her will. Also that poet could be called by the name “Will” which was again I would argue alluded to as something of a surprise. Certainly not a surprise for someone actually named Will.

This sonnet contains additional hints regarding the argument of how abundance can continue to increase as a method of convincing Elizabeth that the argument for Henry doesn’t get weaker it gets stronger as he grows. It should follow that the sequence is to the same person he has been addressing in the preceding sonnets. There is no mention that he is now addressing the “fair youth” to make this argument. In fact the fair youth is represented and referred to as the one who has “abundance" addeth to his store.

Additionally not only does the substance of this argument form a narrative across the entire sequence. Something to which orthodox scholars argue does not exit. It also represents, I would argue is a rather obvious worldview of the 17th lineal descendant of the earldom of Oxford.

Vendler calls this sonnet “perplexing, even maddening” and probably understandably misses the point that this sonnet alludes to a bounty and to the poet’s wishes (his will) to which is for the good of his subject. She also apparently believes that Shakespeare is confused about the nature of this “Dark Lady”. Where I would offer that Shakespeare is not confused at all about her nature though perhaps not quite sure how her nature will manifest it self in his most important of ambitions.

Booth believes the playing on Will as word was for sexual desire.