Sonnet 90

1. Then hate me when thou wilt, if ever, now,

2. Now while the world is bent my deeds to cross,

3. Join with the spite of fortune, make me bow,

4. And do not drop in for an after-loss:

5. Ah, do not, when my heart hath 'scoped this sorrow,

6. Come in the rearward of a conquer'd woe,

7. Give not a windy night a rainy morrow,

8. To linger out a purposed overthrow.

9. If thou wilt leave me, do not leave me last,

10. When other petty griefs have done their spite,

11. But in the onset come, so stall I taste

12. At first the very worst of fortune's might.

13. And other strains of woe, which now seem woe,

14. Compared with loss of thee, will not seem so.

Spite of Fortune

Dedication: To Elizabeth

Suggesting to Elizabeth that if she is to hate him, to do it now when his fortunes are already lowest. Thus to make the other misfortunes seem diminished by comparison. These misfortunes seeming to be intimately related to rest of the sonnets particularly as the dedication suggests. He also alludes to possible hints of Elizabeth playing on his weaknesses after past losses.

1st Quatrain: (1-4)

Telling Elizabeth that if she wants to join in his disapproval she may. Interesting in line 3 he tells her to "make me bow" which is more than a metaphor for his demanded subservience. In line 4 my guess is that he tells her to not expect that she may then play on his self-pity afterwards. Perhaps the reference to the drop in for an after-loss is a reference to when their romance was young and visited him after he lost in a joust or other contest.

2nd Quatrain: (5-8)

Reiterating the same thought of not playing on his being beaten down in defeat in line 6 and 7. Line 7 I believe cleverly suggesting that no tears to follow the storm of the previous night. In line 8 telling her not to tease him with the possibity of recognising Henry.

3rd Quatrain: (9-12)

Telling her, if she leaves him, to leave him with Henry in power in line 9. While in the rest telling her the resulting reprecussion for him of such would be worst he could imagine.

couplet (13-14),

Finishing off with all these woes will seem nothing if what I have just proposed is to happen.


Commentary:

Oxford again seeking determination for his one cause, this is a plea I believe that is very similar to that of line 5 of 101 with his admonition to “make answer, Muse”. However, the poet is changing his message slightly and purports to only actually be seeking Elizabeth’s love. Oxford is attempting to reunite with Elizabeth who has witnessed his misfortune. A misfortune so seemingly great one must indeed wonder if it is reflected in these poems and what it might be.

The traditional understanding that if the subject is to not postpone his desertion as again the handy Cliff Notes guide says, while that is a partial understanding, it fails to account for the larger stage for which the poet tells us the events are occurring. That by virtue of losing Elizabeth, a wider audience, is thus involved in his the effects of his loss. A loss seemingly never addressed and understood as a separate entity for the separation and love. But one that should be well understood as tied with what is both hidden and what is the crime discussed previously in these sonnets.

Line 8 is an allusion to possible seditious activity for which Oxford may have begun planning for in the unthinkable eventuality that Elizabeth did not recognize Henry.

Despite the poet's protestations that his love is what is most important to him, the real question should be the source of the woe expressed as "the very worst of fortune's might".

Vendler mentions the importance in the poem, what she calls “the single organizing force”, “the account of wrongs suffered by the speaker up to the present”. But she fails to provide any commentary on what these wrongs might be.