Sonnet 91

1. Some glory in their birth, some in their skill,

2. Some in their wealth, some in their bodies' force,

3. Some in their garments, though new-fangled ill:

4. Some in their hawks and hounds, some in their Horse,

5. And every humour hath his adjunct pleasure,

6. Wherein it finds a joy above the rest,

7. But these particulars are not my measure;

8. All these I better in one general best.

9. Thy love is better than high birth to me,

10. Richer than wealth, prouder than garments' cost,

11. Of more delight than hawks or horses be;

12. And having thee, of all men's pride I boast:

13. Wretched in this alone, that thou mayst take

14. All this away, and me most wretched make.

Wretched In This Alone

Dedication: To Elizabeth

Telling Elizabeth that her love is his glory, better even than the glory of his high birth which of course this poet must posses. Better than the requisite advantages of this high birth again which the poet possesses. Finishing with the refrain that she has the power to take her love and all else away. As can be seen this sonnet makes far better sense in light of the identities of these particular individuals.

1st Quatrain: (1-4)

Oxford sums up the qualities many brag about particularly weighted by those qualities expected of nobility and especially by many of Oxford's keen interests and passions.

2nd Quatrain: (5-8)

Telling Elizabeth his only measure of himself is her love.

3rd Quatrain: (9-12)

Thus having her makes him boastful beyond what any other man. I must remark that I can only imagine a nobleman such as Oxford writing this.

couplet (13-14),

Finishing with the thought that yet she by virtue of her ability to control this one thing that matters, her love, gives her the power to truly make him "wretched". This might strike people as an ordinary love poem written to any woman, however I think it clearly has special connotation when viewed to Elizabeth who truly had the power to make men wretched and who one would truly have to make hyperbolic claims of devotion to.


Commentary:

This is probably the most autobiographical sonnets and fits Oxford’s view of his noble state perfectly along with his desire and satisfaction for nothing else but Henry’s recognition. This is the poem of man who possesses these things but professes not to derive his ultimate true glory from them.

One should not misinterpret that the poet and the man who was the poet did not actually derive glory from these things. He very much did and one should feel it from these poems that are so replete with the allusions of things surrounding monarchs. As in Shakespeare’s plays the usage and love of horses and hawks comes so naturally as only one who truly did revel in and enjoy could have written. The man from Stratford could not have enjoyed these things. There is no hint of irony in these pronouncements and there is additionally no usage of allusions to those of modest or minimal means which one might expect of a poet randomly picking metaphors.

It is often thought that mere love is what would be denied to the poet. However it is my feeling that the poet is actually expressing the subject has the capacity to take every bit of those things mentioned, most notably the subject’s love, but also all the rest as well. However the point is that the “wretchedness” only comes from the loss of the love. This seems to me, a much more powerful message and less confusing message when understood in this proper context.

Line 5 reference to the mysterious him whose adjunct pleasure harks back to Sonnet 122 where Henry himself was referred to as an adjunct. The couplet is another reference to Elizabeth’s power.

This poem bears a strong resemblance in many ways to the themes of the poem “The Pain of Pleasure” which is likely misattributed to his secretary Anthony Munday and discussed by the literary scholar Sarah Smith in her book Chasing Shakespeares

Vendler makes the implicit argument that love is better than high birth to me is a general assertion of Elizabethan society and not specifically an expression of the poet’s personal feelings.