1. Whilst I alone did call upon thy aid,
2. My verse alone had all thy gentle grace,
3. But now my gracious numbers are decay'd
4. And my sick Muse doth give another place.
5. I grant (sweet love) thy lovely argument
6. Deserves the travail of a worthier pen,
7. Yet what of thee thy Poet doth invent
8. He robs thee of and pays it thee again,
9. He lends thee virtue and he stole that word,
10. From thy behavior; beauty doth he give
11. And found it in thy cheek; he can afford
12. No praise to thee but what in thee doth live.
13. Then thank him not for that which he doth say,
14. Since what he owes thee thou thyself dost pay.
Thyself Dost Pay
Dedication: To Elizabeth
Oxford uses the analogy of an artist taking from the subject some of their beauty as they attempt to portray it to use this to remind and illustrate how Elizabeth pays as well for what she takes from herself.
1st Quatrain: (1-4)
Referring to his probable lone lobbying for Henry in line 1. Telling Elizabeth in line 2 that these sonnets embody Elizabeth's own charm and grace. Then suggesting that Henry’s false lineage decreases his own line in line 3. Line 4 suggests that this also provides for another’s potential occupation of the throne which already came in 107 with the more famous and obvious “Incertainties now crown themselves assured”
2nd Quatrain: (5-8)
Telling Elizabeth again of her grace in line 5. And that it deserves a better chronicler in line 6. Then suggesting in line 7 and 8 that virtue bestowed on her must be recycled by taking it from her and giving it back.
3rd Quatrain: (9-12)
Reiterating the same recycling again in lines 9 & 10 with the virtue that the poet takes and gives and the beauty that he provides back. Suggesting in lines 11 and 12 that tis only the beauty he finds in her flesh and thus can't provide any further praise but it. Implying this beauty is but a part but not the whole of the of the real beauty being withheld.
couplet (13-14),
Telling her not to thank this poet for his praise since what he has given back he has really taken from her. Again Elizabeth is paying for her own vanity and selfishness and conceals the rest of the beauty which is embodied in Henry.
Commentary:
This sonnet deals with the metaphor of the poet borrowing from the subject what is already theirs as an analogy to what Elizabeth borrows from herself in Henry. This thought is expressed succinctly in line 14 which also is a variation of the thought expressed in the couplet of 134 as “he pays the whole and yet I am not free”.
Line 6 is again a play on Henry as the metaphorical pen.
Another “rival poet” sonnet, here the subject actually pays for what the praise provided by the “rival”. Praise meant to represent the unnatural relationship between them which is not the queen/prince relationship which should be. Thus a metaphor for Elizabeth suffering for what her son should be providing (an heir) which he can not. The key to understanding the sonnet is to understand that the subject Elizabeth is the one who understandably pays the price for what this other poet “says” by the expression of his identity and the beauty he provides by his royal nature and relationship to Elizabeth. This other poet however is not a “rival” he is much better understood as the victim the sonnet expresses and thus the frequent mention of the price he pays. A price that appears to have no basis in the orthodox understanding but which is so completely intrinsic to these sonnets and appears again and again.
Vendler again literally interprets this sonnet, to suggest that the supposed rival is being accused of borrowing his invention from the beloved and thus deserves no thanks, while the rival is “guilty” of accepting thanks. She takes her literal interpretation to the very end of the sonnet, having the one who pays referring to the patron who pays.
Instead I have offered a metaphor where the subject’s virtuous behavior has been lost to the very entity lends virtue and beauty and is also responsible for allowing the poet to provide sustenance (at least metaphorically) to the subject.