Sonnet 56

Sweet love renew thy force, be it not said

Thy edge should blunter be then apetite,

Which but too daie by feeding is alaied,

To morrow sharpened in his former might.

So love be thou, although too daie thou fill

Thy hungrie eies, even till they winck with fulnesse,

Too morrow see againe, and doe not kill

The spirit of Love, with a perpetual dulnesse:

Let this sad Intrim like the Ocean be

Which parts the shore, where two contracted new,

Come daily to the banckes, that when they see

Returne of love, more blest may be the view..

As cal it Winter, which being ful of care,

Makes Somers welcome, thrice more wish'd, more rare.

Commentary

Address to the beloved

In the first quatrain, the poet asks his beloved to renew the edge of his desire, reminding him that appetite, though it may be sated for a day, comes back again the next day even sharper.

In the second quatrain, the poet requests his beloved to renew his love every day, even though one day sated to overfulness, and not to kill love with dulness.

In the third quatrain, the poet encourages his beloved to treat the space of time in which he no longer feels love (sad Intrim) as an ocean between two banks where the lovers come each day to be surprised by their love's freshness.

In the final couplet, the poet points out that the problems of Winter make Summer more welcome, more wished for, more rare, implying that so it may be with their love for one another.

Perhaps the beloved is getting a little bored of being adored.

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