Sonnet 79: Whilst I Alone Did Call Upon Thy Aid
Sonnet 79: Whilst I Alone Did Call Upon Thy Aid - meaning Summary
Poet Supplanted by Rival
The speaker complains that his poems once uniquely captured the beloved’s grace, but a rival poet’s work has eclipsed him. He concedes the rival’s verse may be more polished, yet insists it merely borrows the beloved’s qualities—virtue and beauty—and returns them as praise. The poem argues that such flattering encomium owes everything to the beloved’s actual attributes, so the rival deserves no special credit for what is simply reflected back.
Read Complete AnalysesWhilst I alone did call upon thy aid, My verse alone had all thy gentle grace, But now my gracious numbers are decayed, And my sick Muse doth give an other place. I grant, sweet love, thy lovely argument Deserves the travail of a worthier pen, Yet what of thee thy poet doth invent He robs thee of, and pays it thee again. He lends thee virtue, and he stole that word From thy behaviour; beauty doth he give, And found it in thy cheek; he can afford No praise to thee, but what in thee doth live. Then thank him not for that which he doth say, Since what he owes thee, thou thyself dost pay.
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