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Full many a glorious morning have I seene
Flatter the mountaine tops with soveraine eie,
Kissing with golden face the meddowes greene,
Guilding pale streames with heavenly alcumy:
Anon permit the basest cloudes to ride,
With ougly rack on his celestiall face,
And from the for-lorne world his visage hide
Stealing unseene to west with this disgrace:
Even so my Sunne one early morne did shine,
With all triumphant splendor on my brow,
But out alack, he was but one houre mine,
The region cloude hath mask'd him from me now.
Yet him for this, my love no whit disdaineth,
Suns of the world may staine, when heavens sun staineth.
Commentary
Commentary
Address to an absent beloved
Address to an absent beloved
Changes to the original text: line 1, comma deleted at end of line; line 3, final semicolon changed to comma.
This is the first sonnet in which it appears there may be a problem in the poet's relationship with the fair young man.
In the octet, the poet ruminates on the fact that the sun often appears in the early morning, making the meadows green and gilding the pale streams, but that, as the day progresses, foul clouds obscure the sun's face, though, in all this, the word 'sun' is missing.
In the sestet, the poet observes that it was the same with his beloved: he was his but for a short time, whereupon others (region cloud) came upon the scene and masked him from view. Still, he will not complain, men (suns (sons) of the world) may do this when the sun (heavens sun) does it.
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