1. Poor soul the center of my sinful earth,

2. My sinful earth these rebel powers that thee array,

3. Why dost thou pine within and suffer dearth

4. Painting thy outward walls so costly gay?

5. Why so large cost having so short a lease,

6. Dost thou upon thy fading mansion spend?

7. Shall worms inheritors of this excess

8. Eat up thy charge? is this thy body's end?

9. Then soul live thou upon thy servant's loss,

10. And let that pine to aggravate thy store;

11. Buy terms divine in selling hours of dross:

12. Within be fed, without be rich no more,

13. So shalt thou feed on death, that feeds on men,

14. And death once dead, there's no more dying then.

This the End?

Dedication: To Elizabeth

First she is the center of his world, but that he pities her because she has aligned herself with those that find denying Henry a good decision. A decision that he believes leaves her yearning and anguished. That she pays so high a price to feign happiness. Asking her metaphorically, why she spends so much (concealing Henry), when she has had him so little time i.e. this "short lease" on a metaphorical mansion that represents her palace/Tudor (ultimately Lancaster) house. Asking her if Henry and thus metaphorically she should merely go to waste when she dies? If so then she is living on his loss. Comparing her present course with various metaphors to illustrate that currently her course is short sighted. Finishing with the admonition that once she is dead there is no more continuance of what he effectively equates with dying.

1^st Quatrain: (1-4)

Questioning his subject why she aligns herself with those she does, as well as why she imposes grief upon herself. The "pine within" and the "suffer dearth" elements in line 3 are the clues that this grief is self imposed else why would the poet ask. The second usage of my sinful earth in line 2 and usually edited out by modern editors reflects Elizabeth’s awesome power.

2^nd Quatrain: (5-8)

Line 5 is asking metaphorically "why spend so much on this Tudor house when you obviously plan on vacating it. Thus line 6's "the fading mansion". The "excess" in line 7 and "thy charge" in line 8 is Henry. Further line 8 asks Elizabeth if her death should be her body’s end, as opposed to having an heir continue it. This line of argument will become the common refrain of the sonnets. As we will see and will ultimately explain the so called "Fair Youth" sonnets to come. And specifically this similar reference appears in 13.

3rd Quatrain: (9-12)

The "soul to live upon thy servants loss" is Elizabeth while the servant is the poet who alludes to his own willingness to abdicate his identity as father. In Line 10 the "pine" is a likely reflection again of the grief she has caused herself. The hours of dross refer to the many hours of waste which represent Henry's unknown state which has not only brought grief the poet and to Elizabeth but lacked the celebration for which was more appropriate. Line 12 is author common element of the sonnets that plays on the wealth that Elizabeth is squandering in not recognizing Henry. These lines are very old usages of the terminology contained and are probably unfamiliar to today’s readers. This very conversation though will become a frequent refrain of the sonnets.

couplet (13-14)

Finally Oxford tells Elizabeth that her failure to "feed" on Henry is effectively to feed on "Death" i.e. her own. Which he points out so beautifully is but done once. Again this end of the line will be a common element to come.

Commentary:

An early discussion on the importance of legacy and waste the subject’s current life. This is an important foreshadowing to the same concepts that will appear in the earlier numbered sonnets to come.But traditional scholarship would posit that this poem bears no connection to the others as this is a poem to the “Dark Lady”. While the earlier numbered sonnets are supposedly to the “Fair Youth”. But even as just a commentary on wastefulness and a message that death without leaving a legacy is a true end would miss important clues. For example the “charge”, the “store”, and the act of spending on one self. These are important metonymical references that will each be more thoroughly explored and developed as the sonnets progress. This progression will culminate in the metaphor for procreation to which this is actually a very early version.

The usage of clear language of waste of successor or heir in mention of the “excess” and “charge”. The key is the realization that this excess, thy charge, thy store represent a very real and tangible entity in the form of Elizabeth’s child. The charge should be understood to be one entrusted to the subjects care. This is also an important point because my strong suspicion is that Henry was in Elizabeth's care at this time. Likely it was not until he was about 3 that he was place in the Southampton household. And this is likely reflected in Act I scene 2 in of The Tempest in Prospero's conversation with Miranda and she recalls all the women that attended to her. Though by placing her child in the household of someone known to have conspired in the release of Mary Queen of Scots and a Catholic might seem surprising. It was possibly a matter of the control Elizabeth had over him, and his name having been Henry that made this desirable. In addition to there being a newborn in this family. But Elizabeth also appears to have exercised her control of the 2nd Earl in stages. (see note)

The message of this sonnet is very much related to the beginning numbered sonnets discussing what has long been thought of as procreation but is actually the same, to live on through her child. This illustrates the connectedness of the sonnets both alluded to by the dedication and necessary for understanding their purpose. There is also reflection on the subject’s (Elizabeth's) own early suffering as an indication of the arrow of time as opposed to the more resoluteness she will display and which will come.

The second mention of “sinful earth” in the beginning is often thought to be a mistake but I believe actually reflects on Elizabeth’s power. This association with earth is also possibly the source of Elizabeth as Nature in sonnets to come. Also in the first quatrain, Oxford points out the cause of this grief is Elizabeth's making. Likely he was seeking to manipulate her. She was known to burden herself with weighty decisions. like with the execution of her half sister Mary. Those she aligned herself with were clearly those encouraging her to make this decision. Most likely the Privy Counsel which felt that negotiation for her marriage was too powerful a bargaining chip to lose with the many aligned Catholic nations which were England's potential enemies.

As mentioned line 2 illustrates that the poet feels that the subject essentially is arraying against him almost the whole earth.

KDJ believes that the poet is exhorting the earth to prepare for death by consuming spiritual richness and repudiating earthly riches.

Vendler comments that Booth understanding of this poem concentrates perhaps too much on meaning alone. A proposition which reflects possibly her notion of these sonnets being more about construction and aestheticism. Which might make some sense when one considers they view the meaning of this poem as an abstract discussion of Christian and non-Christian views of afterlife and which represents a general misunderstanding of the specificity and purpose of them.

Note:

Queen Elizabeth was apparently quite cautious with the 2nd Earl. First allowing him to leave the Tower for the house of Sir William More in May of 1573. Then only later allowing him to return to Titchfield at his father-in-law's, Anthony Browne in July. That is if one is to trust Charlotte Stopes. But Anthony Browne, 1st Vicount of Montagu (Lord Montague) was considered loyal to QE I. And coincidently may have also been something of an inspiration for Romeo's affiliation with the Montague's. Which I don't think should be surprising given I presume Romeo and Juliet might have been inspired by Oxford's attempts to win sympathy for Henry's choice of Elizabeth Vernon for marriage.