1. Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck,
2. And yet methinks I have Astronomy,
3. But not to tell of good or evil luck,
4. Of plagues, of dearths, or seasons' quality,
5. Nor can I fortune to brief minutes tell;
6. Pointing to each his thunder, rain and wind,
7. Or say with Princes if it shall go well,
8. By oft predict that I in heaven find.
9. But from thine eyes my knowledge I derive,
10. And, constant stars, in them I read such art
11. As truth and beauty shall together thrive
12. If from thyself to store thou wouldst convert;
13. Or else of thee this I prognosticate,
14. Thy end is Truth's and Beauty's doom and date.
Beauty's Doom and Date
Dedication: To Elizabeth
Oxford explaining that though he has referenced the stars previously as showing an ordainment, he does not take his future as preordained by the stars. Then he explains that he feels the stars are on his side but not necessarily to foretell his fortune. The stars he explains are a demonstration of sorts to the nature of truth and beauty being one and the same. This entwinement of truth and beauty represents the both he and Henry. And he goes on to say that unless she “converts” Henry from the “store” she keeps him then her death will be the doom of he and Henry and thus truth and beauty.
1st Quatrain: (1-4)
Offering Elizabeth that though he expects not to get his fortune through the stars he knows the stars. Shakespeare of course was a great admirer of astronomy though strangely his knowledge of it never got past that of the 16th Century.
2nd Quatrain: (5-8)
Nor he tells her can he predict the future be it weather of the affairs of state as he alludes to Henry's promise in line 7. Hoever he does know one thing that he feels will be true in line 8.
3rd Quatrain: (9-12)
That thing he sees in both Elizabeth's eyes and in the stars in line 9. That is that "truth" (He) and "beauty" Henry will triumph in line 11, if he says in line 12 Elizabeth will "convert" that part of her that she has put in "store" or literally convert herself to the “store”.
couplet (13-14),
Else as he says truth and beauty (or he and Henry) are doomed at her demise.
Commentary:
The key to understanding this sonnet is the phrase, “If from thyself to store thou wouldst convert”. Which is shortly followed by the message, “Thy end is truth's and beauty's doom and date.” These two points are almost a perfect summary of the meaning of the sonnets. The first converting Henry to be her lawful son and heir, while the second that if she does not and dies it is a death as well for both Oxford and Henry with truth representing Oxford and beauty Henry. Neither of these thoughts seems the least bit appropriate for the orthodox view.
Line 7 is one of Oxford’s signature suggestive references, or at least would be if recognized as such. Line 14 is the culmination of Elizabeth’s failure to take heed of Oxford’s expectation best expressed just previously in sonnet 22 as “so long as youth and thou are of one date”.
The couplet of this sonnet is intimately connected to the Threnos (or funeral song) of The Phoenix and the Turtle and shown here:
Beauty, truth, and rarity, Grace in all simplicity, Here enclosed in cinders lie.
Death is now the phoenix' nest And the turtle's loyal breast To eternity doth rest,
Leaving no posterity: 'Twas not their infirmity, It was married chastity.
Truth may seem, but cannot be; Beauty brag, but 'tis not she; Truth and beauty buried be.
To this urn let those repair That are either true or fair; For those dead birds, sigh a prayer.
For one “Truth and beauty buried be” should immediately be evocative line 14, “Thy end is Truth's and Beauty's doom and date”. While “Leaving no posterity” is the substance of the “eternity” of the dedication of the Sonnets. And the “'Twas not their infirmity, It was married chastity” is an important clue of the false Virginity that Elizabeth took to her grave as is relatively well known and a reflection of Oxford expressing that it had nothing to do with himself or Henry (Truth and beauty).