Sonnet 103
Alack what poverty my Muse brings forth,
That having such a skope to show her pride,
The argument all bare is of more worth
Then when it hath my added praise besides.
Oh blame me not if I no more can write!
Looke in your glasse and there appeares a face,
That over-goes my blunt invention quite,
Dulling my lines, and doing me disgrace.
Were it not sinfull then, striving to mend,
To marre the subject that before was well?
For to no other passe my verses tend,
Then of your graces and your gifts to tell.
And more, much more then in my verse can fit,
Your owne glasse showes you when you looke in it.
Commentary
Address to his beloved
Changes to the original text: line 9, comma inserted after 'then'; end of line 10, comma changed to question mark.
In the first quatrain, the poet laments the poverty of his Muse when he has such a great opportunity (such a skope) to excel (how her pride). But the fact is that his beloved, just as he is, unpraised, is better.
In the second quatrain, the poet observes that all his beloved has to do is look in his mirror (glasse) to realise that there before him is a subject which exceeds the poet's capacity (over-goes my blunt invention) to treat.
In the third quatrain, the poet asks would it not be a sin to mar something which was very well before he had touched it, because his verses concern nothing other that the beloved's 'graces and gifts'.
In the final couplet, the poet observes that his beloved's mirror (glasse) shows him much more than his (the poet's) poetry can show.