Sonnet 31
1. Thy bosom is endeared with all hearts,
2. Which I by lacking have supposed dead,
3. And there reigns Love and all Love's loving parts,
4. And all those friends which I thought buried.
5. How many a holy and obsequious tear
6. Hath dear religious love stol'n from mine eye,
7. As interest of the dead, which now appear,
8. But things removed that hidden in there lie,
9. Thou art the grave where buried love doth live,
10. Hung with the trophies of my lovers gone,
11. Who all their parts of me to thee did give,
12. That due of many, now is thine alone.
13. Their images I loved, I view in thee,
14. And thou (all they) hast all the all of me.
Thou Art the Grave
Dedication: To Elizabeth
Telling Elizabeth appropriately that she is endeared with the hearts of all her countrmen/woman. That in her heart is where the embodiment of Love (Henry) lives. That what is hidden in her is owed to her country but for which she keeps as hers alone.
1st Quatrain: (1-4)
Telling Elizabeth that though she is loved greatly herself he doubts she can love. But his heart being so cold and dead thinks her bosom is as well (with the implication that were everyone like Oxford) in line 2. Referring to Henry and probably himself in friends thought buried.
2nd Quatrain: (5-8)
Again referring to Henry and punning on lie as Henry both hidden in her and part of her deception.
3rd Quatrain: (9-12)
Expressing the thought that Elizabeth is a metaphorical grave where the hidden result of their love (Henry) resides in line 9.
Line 12 alluding to Henry as what is due to many which Elizabeth has kept purely to herself.
couplet (13-14),
The couplet though confusing seemingly expresses that Elizabeth has won and she has inherited all the ability to provide for his own legacy by virtue of recognizing Henry because he has become otherwise a completely marginalized and anonymous figure whose gifts both through progeny and likely even writing will be lost as knowledge of his origin to the world.