Sonnet 101: O Truant Muse, What Shall Be Thy Amends
Sonnet 101: O Truant Muse, What Shall Be Thy Amends - meaning Summary
Muse Urged to Praise
Shakespeare addresses a negligent Muse, arguing that his beloved’s truth and beauty are inseparable and already complete. Though beauty needs no artificial colour, the poet insists that praise is still necessary to preserve the beloved beyond physical decay. The speaker urges the Muse to resume her task so that future ages will witness the beloved as he is now, granting a kind of immortality through verse.
Read Complete AnalysesO truant Muse, what shall be thy amends For thy neglect of truth in beauty dyed? Both truth and beauty on my love depends; So dost thou too, and therein dignified. Make answer, Muse. Wilt thou not haply say, Truth needs no colour with his colour fixed, Beauty no pencil, beauty’s truth to lay, But best is best, if never intermixed? Because he needs no praise, wilt thou be dumb? Excuse not silence so, for’t lies in thee To make him much outlive a gilded tomb And to be praised of ages yet to be. Then do thy office, Muse; I teach thee how To make him seem, long hence, as he shows now.
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