1. Those parts of thee that the world's eye doth view,
2. Want nothing that the thought of hearts can mend:
3. All tongues (the voice of souls) give thee that due,
4. Uttering bare truth, even so as foes Commend.
5. Their outward thus with outward praise is crown'd,
6. But those same tongues that give thee so thine own,
7. In other accents do this praise confound
8. By seeing farther than the eye hath shown.
9. They look into the beauty of thy mind,
10. And that, in guess, they measure by thy deeds,
11. Then, churls, their thoughts (although their eyes were kind)
12. To thy fair flower add the rank smell of weeds,
13. But why thy odour matcheth not thy show,
14. The solve is this, that thou dost common grow.
Dost Common Grow
Dedication: To Henry
Oxford using the metaphor of Henry as a flower explaining the mystery of Henry as a flower with the beauty expected for his purpose but not the fragrance. To which he explains with notion that Henry’s lack of royal recognition is responsible.
1st Quatrain: (1-4)
Telling Henry that what is visible to the world in him (his beauty is understood) is not what will make his position change. Further telling him, his beauty is something even his foes will grant.
2nd Quatrain: (5-8)
Repeating that his outward looks validated with an obvious allusion to the crown. But telling him that those same individual's that speak of his beauty are also his detractors. That they also see something else.
3rd Quatrain: (9-12)
Heeding him with fatherly advice that they look upon his deeds as well which might not be congruous with what they see. Again comparing him to a flower and telling him that the smell is not right.
couplet (13-14),
Suggesting the solution to this riddle of why the beauty of his flower looks belie an incongrous scent, is that he grows common and thus not as a royal and as such the comparison to the weed.
Commentary:
Oxford continues on the discussion with Henry and again reiterates what the world sees versus what should be seen. The first line actually plays on the notion of the sun (the world’s eye) representing Henry the son in both lines 1 and 8 and what fails to shine on him as previously discussed in 132. He further adds that these unseen aspects of him not being known doesn’t allow what those knowing would wish, to mend the disharmony and accept and acknowledge him.
A relationship between this and the preceding sonnet (here) have been remarked on by scholars but they fail to understand the true nature of these sonnets. This one as speaks of Henry’s unknown true nature which by being hidden solves the problem of his greater worth by shielding him in a more “common” form. Grant you Henry was still likely an Earl by now but this is common in relationship to his true nature as prince. Which line 5 alludes to with the allusion to being crowned. The sweet smell that he does not seem to posses a reference to his not having the full glory of his true identity.
This sonnet is extremely important for understanding the most important metaphor of all within Shakespeare and of understanding that Henry is equated with being represented by a flower. This is the key to understanding the whole point of the epic poem Venus and Adonis where the purple flower (purple the color of royalty) that appears and springs up from the blood of Adonis at the end represents Henry. While another spin on the purple flower also occurs in A Midsummer-Night's Dream Oberon's says that the flower, "Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound" in Act 2, scene 1, which is in context of the potion for Titania is very likely part of an allegorical reference surrounding Elizabeth and her consideration of marriage to the Francis, the French Duke of Anjou. And reflective that Oxford considered this marriage very much a threat to his son's future. Which would explain the very unflattering light in which the Duke is portrayed, i.e. the character Bottom. And it also reflects Oxford's known personal antipathy toward the Duke, which Oxford apparently expressed when he refused to dance on command of the Queen on the grounds that he 'would not give pleasure to Frenchmen'.
It is thus not that the youth is becoming disreputable himself by his association, it is that he literally is made less than he is out of the necessity of those that keep him from true identity.
Line 15 contains one of the 15 instances where “their” frequently appears as “thy”.
Vendler embarks on a complex and contrived solution by way of a complicated analysis to deduce that Shakespeare is only able to “feebly” resolve his ascribing the young man’s defects of mind to his environment. Which is her explanation of thou dost common grow”.