1. As an unperfect actor on the stage,
2. Who with his fear is put besides his part,
3. Or some fierce thing replete with too much rage,
4. Whose strength's abundance weakens his own heart.
5. So I, for fear of trust, forget to say,
6. The perfect ceremony of love's right,
7. And in mine own love's strength seem to decay,
8. O'ercharged with burden of mine own love's might:
9. O let my books be then the eloquence,
10. And dumb presagers of my speaking breast,
11. Who plead for love and look for recompense,
12. More than that tongue that more hath more express'd.
13. O, learn to read what silent love hath writ,
14. To hear with eyes belongs to love's fine wit.
Love's Rite
Dedication: To Elizabeth
Expressing to Elizabeth that he forgets sometimes to express his love because of the fear and hate he often feels. So he tells her to look to his written word for his expression of his love to her. But he also alludes to the recompense he is seeking in regard to Henry.
1st Quatrain: (1-4)
As the nervous actor or the enraged beast of some kind both are dimished in skill and courage or resolve respectively
2nd Quatrain: (5-8)
Such is he diminished with the power of his love for Elizabeth
3rd Quatrain: (9-12)
Explaining to Elizabeth that she look into these sonnets for his eloquence because his tongue has failed him. Speaking on behalf of his love and his expectation of reimbursement through Henry's recognition in line 11. Playing on the word more in line 12, telling her that these sonnets provide greater plea, than the great pleas he has already spoken, in the cause of the great abundance of Henry.
couplet (13-14),
Offering her that greater expression of his love is found in his words written.
Commentary:
Oxford expressing both his love and looking for compensation in the form of Henry’s recognition. This sonnet thus a key corroborator both for this aspect and for the clue of Elizabeth’s might in line 8.In addition, hopefully it should be apparent that this sonnet belongs as a late stage sonnet which clearly shows a long legacy by the poet of trying to communicate his love. A communication I would hope is seen as the very sonnets that have preceded it. Here Oxford attempts to express to Elizabeth that his love is better expressed by the things he has written to her versus what he has said. And Oxford’s mention of his own decay reinforces the chronology argument. Oxford and Elizabeth are both clearly aging as the sonnets to come reveal.
Line 6 contains a frequent change of the word “right” to “rite”. It is my feeling that the word “right” actually reflects the actual implication of the real meaning in terms of expressing more his expectation of satisfaction.
The appeal of this sonnet to learn to read what silent love hath writ is lost not understanding as subtly referring to the recompense of having Henry recognized. Nor I have found any commentary about the abundance or rage mentioned and how they tie together with the whole of the sonnets.
The mention of acting in line 1 is important as it is frequently cited that the works were rather clearly written by a professional actor. I would counter however that Oxford had more experience in playwriting and acting than most professionals. As I would offer that he began at the earliest age composing plays and taking part in their production. Partly I would suggest this because I am rather confident he actually composed and likely performed the play July and Julian in his boyhood based on the handwriting of the manuscript. Which is a direct match for that in Shakespeare's Halle. But I would suggest that it is rather apparent that he also continued this practice with the composition of earlier works such as Timon, and Edmund Ironside. And in addition to his plays I would further offer that he had far greater experience with respect to all manner of pageantry such as tournaments, masques, and processions.
And once again the traditional paradigm it seems to me, fails to account for why the play Love's Labour's Lost is referred to as a "conceited comedy" with "verbal wit and ingenuity" and whose characters play "endlessly with language" according to Henry Woudhuysen. So very likely written for courtiers and in a venue much clearly more apt for them.