Sonnet 77

1. Thy glass will show thee how thy beauties wear,

2. Thy dial how thy precious minutes waste,

3. The vacant leaves thy mind's imprint will bear,

4. And of this book this learning mayst thou taste.

5. The wrinkles which thy glass will truly show,

6. Of mouthed graves will give thee memory,

7. Thou by thy dial's shady stealth mayst know,

8. Time's thievish progress to eternity.

9. Look, what thy memory can not contain,

10. Commit to these waste blacks, and thou shalt find

11. Those children nursed, deliver'd from thy brain,

12. To take a new acquaintance of thy mind.

13. These offices, so oft as thou wilt look,

14. Shall profit thee and much enrich thy book.

Enrich Thy Book

Dedication: To Elizabeth

Subtle appeals to deliver Henry to his rightful status as prince by virtue of not so subtle reminders to Elizabeth of her own impending death.

1st Quatrain: (1-4)

Telling Elizabeth how her mirror reflects her age in line 1. That time is the clock is measuring the precious time that is wasted in line 2. Telling her that her book will remain unfinished in line 3.Continuing with the metaphor of books and telling her these very sonnets portend the very possibility she faces of no declared heir in line 4.

2nd Quatrain: (5-8)

Again reminding her of her advancing age and its reflection in line 5. That her grave will be her only memory in line 6. Again that time steals away opportunity in line 7. And again reminding her how time continues to steal away opportunity in line 8.

3rd Quatrain: (9-12)

Telling her to realize the Henry's physical being in line 9. Continuing on the book metaphor with an inducement to write the last chapter in line 10. Reminding her of the infant once nursed and that she has tried to forget in line 12.

couplet (13-14),

Telling her that this decision to recognize will benefit her memory and serve her official duties.


Commentary:

This sonnet is a fairly early exploration of the wearing effects of Time and the need to reevaluate Elizabeth’s decision and provide for her renewal as well as the opportunity for her “offices” to profit.What should be most noticeable in this sonnet and the sonnets to come is the development of the importance of haste and of the references to the grave to come. This hopefully will be seen as developing into an ever increasing crescendo of pleading which should reveal the arrow of time and indicate as well the single mindedness of these poems. A single mindedness which should also be thought of in light of the other themes we have seen: First of the crime and that which has been hidden, them to the appearance of our “lovely boy” and now the impending doom unless our subject acts.

The urgency of the notion to act described by the “precious minutes” along with the “eternity” should be much better understood to an aging Elizabeth whose monarchy would inspire the type of legacy envisioned. Not to a young boy who is supposed to find meaning in an argument mentioning “mouthed graves” and “children nursed”. Also what has not previously been clear in this sonnet is that the allusion to “children” are part of the early appeal to leave a legacy. Thus this sonnet bares and important relationship to the early numbered procreation sonnets. And thus this sonnet is very important for illustrating the connection of these poems together in a complete work and for illustrating their chronology and purpose.

This sonnet and its mention of the wrinkles in line 5 should be contrasted with Sonnet 3 where the subject in the thinly veiled metaphor of looking ahead is actually “of wrinkles”

Vendler makes the obvious observation that the glass and sundial are in the possession of the subject, while the book is supposedly a gift to come. But the book is a metaphor and though the glass and sundial might be potentially real their usage is metaphor as well. Both the glass and sundial in their own way illustrate either time or its effect on the subject. The book is the subject’s memory both to have and to leave for posterity. The metaphor of the children nursed is no accident but Vendler would ha