Sonnet 78
So oft have I invok'd thee for my Muse,
And found such faire assistance in my verse,
As every Alien pen hath got my use,
And under thee their poesie disperse.
Thine eyes, that taught the dumbe on high to sing,
And heavie ignorance aloft to flye,
Have added tethers to the learneds wing,
And given grace a double Maiestie.
Yet be most proud of that which I compile,
Whose influence is thine, and borne of thee,
In others workes thou doost but mend the stile,
And Arts with thy sweete graces graced be.
But thou art all my art, and doost advance
As high as learning, my rude ignorance.
Commentary
Address to his beloved
Changes to the original text:
This is the first of the sonnets that mentions a rival poet. For the purposes of this analysis, I will identify the poet of the sonnets as Poet 1 and the rival poet as Poet 2.
The first quatrain comments that the poet (Poet 1)has so often received assistance from the young man both in terms of inspiration (muse) and in terms of patronage, that a rival poet (Poet 2) has now got the idea of using him (the beloved) as a patron and source of inspiration.
The second quatrain acknowledges that the young man's eyes have been instrumental in teaching Poet 1 who could not sing (the dumb) 'on high to sing', and the ignorant (Poet 1) 'aloft to fly'. Poet 1 thus represents himself as originally dumb and ignorant. And he observes that the same eyes have now given extra feathers to Poet 2's wings (the learned poet) and given his grace a double majesty.
The third quatrain asks the young man to value Poet 1's verses more because the inspiration comes directly from him (the young man himself), whereas, with regard to Poet 2, all that is happening is that the young man is correcting his style.
The final couplet addresses again the supposed learning of Poet 2, then asserts that the young man's influence is sufficient to raise his (Poet 1's) ignorance to the height of learning.
In short, what is being asserted is that Poet 2 is a man of great learning, much greater learning than Poet 1, who is ignorant and cannot 'sing', except that it is the personality and charm of the young man that inspires Poet 1 to excel himself. As the young man is himself responsible for any poety that Poet 1 produces, he (the beloved) should value it more.
The poem as a whole expresses Shakespeare's consciousness of his own lack of learning, his 'small Latin and less Greeke' as Ben Jonson put it, and gracefully gives all the credit to the young man for inspiring and elevating his style. The great learning of the other poet is recognised, and this accords well with the character of George Chapman, possibly also of Thomas Nashe.
There is possibly a certain amount of truth in Shakespeare's assertion that the young man was to a certain extent his teacher in the art of poetry, especially the sonnet, as Wriothesley's teacher at the time was the Italian John Florio, though it is clear that the main thing informing the praise is flattery.