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Who ever hath her wish, thou hast thy Will,
And Will too boote, and Will in over-plus,
More then enough am I that vexe thee still,
To thy sweet will making addition thus.
Wilt thou whose will is large and spatious,
Not once vouchsafe to hide my will in thine,
Shall will in others seeme right gracious,
And in my will no faire acceptance shine;
The sea all water, yet receives raine still,
And in aboundance addeth to his store,
So thou beeing rich in Will adde to thy Will,
One will of mine to make thy large Will more.
Let 'no' unkinde, no faire beseechers kill,
Thinke all but one, and me in that one Will.
Commentary
Commentary
Address to a woman with a surfeit of Wills
Address to a woman with a surfeit of Wills
Changes to the text: quote marks added around 'no' in Line 13
This poem is predicated on the fact that 'Will' can be construed in at least four different ways: as an abbreviation of the name William, as the sexual parts, male or female, as the voluntary faculty and as the future tense of the verb 'to be'.
In the first quatrain, the poet establishes that whatever women might wish for (whoever hath her wish), she has at least three men called Will in tow.
In the second quatrain the poet asks why his will is not acceptable when clearly other wills are.
In the third quatrain, the poet uses the analogy of the sea to try to persuade the woman that she should accept all comers, as the sea accepts water from all rivers.
The final quatrain urges the woman to accept every man on the same basis, including him. The logic is simple: you accept just about anybody into your bed, why not me?
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