Sonnet 98
1. From you have I been absent in the spring,
2. When proud-pied April (dress'd in all his trim)
3. Hath put a spirit of youth in every thing,
4. That heavy Saturn laugh'd and leap'd with him.
5. Yet nor the lays of birds nor the sweet smell
6. Of different flowers in odour and in hue,
7. Could make me any summer's story tell:
8. Or from their proud lap pluck them where they grew:
9. Nor did I wonder at the Lily's white,
10. Nor praise the deep vermilion in the Rose,
11. They were but sweet, but figures of delight:
12. Drawn after you, you pattern of all those.
13. Yet seem'd it Winter still, and you away,
14. As with your shadow I with these did play:
Drawn After You
Dedication: To Elizabeth
Using the metaphor of the invigorating effects of youth imparted to the new season, with clear allusions to a young boy. Using the frequent language of reference to a young boy’s sweet smell and hue and even referring to the lap from which he was plucked to allude to separation of her from her son. Using the white lily to represent Henry (see V&A) and telling Elizabeth that he embodies her in “drawn after you”. Finishing with the reminder that without this youthful invigoration it seems like winter and thus all Oxford has are these allusions for which he satisfies himself in her absence.
1st Quatrain: (1-4)
Metaphorically speaking of their long separation and that he is melancholy over it and using clever ways to remind Elizabeth of her young son. Lines 1-4 actually a reflection of the joy brought by Henry no matter the season or time period. Whether in Spring (April) or the time of a Saturn transit. About every 7 years and thought among astrologers to be a gloomy period and time of depression.
2nd Quatrain: (5-8)
Line 8 is a reference to Henry 'plucked from where he grew'. Line 9 is a reference to Henry as a lily, a reference used many times most notably in Venus and Adonis to represent him (though white also might be her as well because of her "virginity"). Line 9 refers to Henry who also has in him a rose by virtue of his being part of the Tudors and hence the Tudor rose.
3rd Quatrain: (9-12)
Line 12 refers to these flowers as a reflection of Elizabeth.
couplet (13-14),
a reflection on now having his child to play with but merely the shadow another one of the frequent metaphors used to discuss Henry.
Commentary:
The overriding metaphor is again that all things which evoke Spring and represent Henry are “drawn” after Elizabeth. I.e. that she is as the poet says “pattern” for them all. A very important sonnet in terms of its usage of metaphorical symbolisms.
For one the usage of the roses and the first usage of the metaphorical shadow cast by the metaphoric sun. The reference to the spirit of youth also provides another allusion to Henry's influence. As mentioned the drawing metaphor is a very prevalent usage of the concept of Henry as either the writing instrument such as the pen or pencil or the work created patterned after Elizabeth. This is reflected in the “Drawn after you” in line 12.
Line 2 celebrate the multicolored April and reminiscent of the spring portion of the song in Love's Labour's Lost (V, ii).
Line 4 usage of heavy with respect to Saturn connotes seemingly that the planet was associated with melancholy (one of the four "humors" of ancient medicine). Though conversely a carefree Saturn would actually better reflect that Romans regarded Saturn as representing a "golden age" of carefreeness before agriculture.
Line 6 is evocative of Sonnet 20 line 7 and suggests that Henry is represented by many different flowers and thus the reason he controls many hues as will be seen in sonnets to come. In addition to the beautiful human hue he has reflected in 104 amongst others as well. The couplet is a reminder that things mentioned are all fantasy while what lies hidden and is represented by a shadow (another important metaphor) makes it seem as Winter still. As the metaphorical Spring never came.
Line 7 important and suggestive of the more meaningful story that lies behind the symbolism.
Line 8 usage of lap similar to that of King Richard II (III, iii) and King Richard II (V, ii) where Shakespeare refers to lush laps of land.
The second sonnet seemingly about nothing more than mere flowers, however when one understands what the flowers represent, a whole new meaning arises. It is also critical to understand that Shakespeare didn’t end Venus and Adonis with the creation of the “purple flower” without very good reason. The message of these flowers and their significance was quite important to Oxford/Shakespeare and it is equally important for us to understand their significance if we are to understand Shakespeare.
Vendler comments interestingly enough, that it is tempting to imagine that 98 comes before 97 because “97 represents a more complicated evolution of the theme”. Too bad she makes little mention of the actual meaning or purpose of the sonnet.
Note:
Vermillion is a deep red color, the pigment is made from the mercury based mineral cinnabar, which when crushed and roasted produces liquid mercury (quicksilver). Shakespeare does make reference to minerals in general and while perhaps supererogatory, Oxford likely had some knowledge of. Certainly by the time of his interest in tin mining in the mid 1590s. But I also suspect that Shakespeare's knowledge of minerals and gemstones is confused by the period for which he is thought to have written. For example this seems wrong. Shakespeare used diamond 21 times all very explicitly. While he used adamant 3 times and seems always to refer to magnetite or lodestone.
More importantly I think Oxford was likely familiar with pigments used in paintings of the time possibly by virtue of his work with Marcus Gheeraedts, the younger. For example in Shakespeare the use of the fleshy pink color incarnadine in Macbeth (II, ii) and perhaps more interesting the brown pigment derived from Egyptian mummies in Othello (III, iv).