Sonnet 154

1. The little Love-God lying once asleep,

2. Laid by his side his heart inflaming brand,

3. Whilst many Nymphs that Vow’d chaste life to keep,

4. Came tripping by, but in her maiden hand,

5. The fairest votary took up that fire,

6. Which many Legions of true hearts had warm'd,

7. And so the General of hot desire,

8. Was sleeping by a Virgin hand disarm'd.

9. This brand she quenched in a cool Well by,

10. Which from love's fire took heat perpetual,

11. Growing a bath and healthful remedy,

12. For men diseased, but I my Mistress thrall,

13. Came there for cure and this by that I prove,

14. Love's fire heats water, water cools not love.

Epigram

Dedication: To Elizabeth

Along with Venus and Adonis describes the seduction of our young poet. The young poet comes to the baths for a cure, but instead finds that the water is not capable of cooling his love which has been formed from the flames Love's fire.

1st Quatrain: (1-4)

The once sleepy love-god laid beside his brand, one capable of inspiring love, while many young nymphs came by

2nd Quatrain: (5-8)

Only the fairest one was able to take the fire. It was used to disarm a previous virgin.

3rd Quatrain: (9-12)

The votary (admirer) quenched the fire but it only lived on in the water to provide soothing warmth for other's ailments and care (presumably his country men) and for the poor love smitten poet

couplet (13-14)

While passion can create heat that heat can not put out the love associated with it.

Commentary:

This is the first of the poems detailing the beginning of the sexual attraction between the main two protagonists, Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford and Queen Elizabeth I. And this begins the story told in these sonnets. The nature of these sonnets is a continuation of the argument to continue Elizabeth's line and to make Oxford's son heir to the throne. Hopefully this will become apparent in sonnets to come.

If Shakespeare is to be believed it might seem that Elizabeth was the initiator of the physical relationship. Given her power and reputation it shouldn’t seem surprising. It is also corroborated by the meaning and reason for Shakespeare's epic poem Venus and Adonis. However it should not be surprising that the fairest votary of line 5 is a reference to Elizabeth, as it is recognized by many that the "imperial votaress" of Oberon mentions in A Midsummer-Night's Dream (Act 2, scene 1) is a reference to QE.

There is also wide speculation as to whether Shakespeare wrote this and the next sonnet. For one they don't seem as personal as the others and primarily because they are actually based on the epigram by Marcianus Scholasticus a Byzantine poet of the 6th century writing about Cupid. But more importantly for the orthodox scholars is the thought, as J. B Leishman noted, they “have no discernible connection with the rest” of the sonnets". That might be true for the Stratfordian paradigm but it is not true here.


These poems are very much a part of the series and provide the very useful introduction of the seduction of our Adonis (Oxford) at the hands of our Venus (Elizabeth). That Venus was also the mother of Cupid (almost always depicted as a child) is also probably meant to raise even now the issue of the child of our story. It is also noteworthy that Shakespeare’s depiction of Venus and Adonis differs from the classical version in the age and power difference between Venus and Adonis. Where in Shakespeare’s version Venus is the older and more powerful one.

Katherine Duncan-Jones in the Arden Shakespeare and others have remarked on how much closer these are to the original epigrams, a surprising insight given that they were not translated into English until after the Stratford man's time. This insight should make much more sense after understanding that the actual author was able to read them in the original Greek. Stanley Wells discusses some of these difficulties and the Stratfordian rationalizations at around the 19 minute mark here. While Andrew Werth, who Wells deigns to mention slightly earlier discusses these two sonnets on page 15 of the following.

Also the depiction of this poem coincidentally appears to be consistent the way the artist Titian depicted the romance in his painting Venus and Adonis (attached courtesy of Getty Museum). The painting's depiction of the Ovidian version has been characterized as having a reluctant Addonis. Given the Earl of Oxford’s travels in Italy several years later than the presumed time line of this poem, either the similarity in this respect is a coincidence or this poem may have been written after his travels but included in the sonnets as the last (first) because of it chronological place as a story telling device.

By the way I would be remiss if I both did not point out the I believe both Stanley Wells and Paul Edmondson have done a very thorough job of illustrating many of the mysteries and enigmas contained in the Sonnets in their book Shakespeare's Sonnets. As they also do an equally excellent job illustrating their own absurd reasoning in arguing for the Stratford man's authorship in Shakespeare BitesBack and the "no doubt" compelling Shakespeare Beyond Doubt. But Revd. Dr. Paul Edmondson was kind enough to respond when asked to comment on my reading. His response, "Thank you, Alan. But I don’t hold with reading the Sonnets biographically in this way."