Shakespearean Sonnet Explication Sonnet 146

SONNET 146 worthless intelligence, the center of my sinful earth, Lord of these rebel powers that thee array, Why dost thou pine within and suffer dearth, motion picture thy outward w alls so costly gay? Why so large cost, having so short a lease, Dost thou upon thy fading mansion sp repeal? Shall worms, inheritors of this excess, Eat up thy charge? is this thy bodys end? Then soul, live thou upon thy servants loss, And let that pine to aggravate thy store bargain terms divine in selling hours of drossWithin be fed, without be rich no more. So shalt thou feed on death, that feeds on men, And death once dead, theres no more dying then. Sonnet 146, as in all Shakespeargonan sonnets, exemplifies the importance of poem structure. following(a) the rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, this English sonnet (now called Shakespearean), distinguishes its author by the format in which it follows. Consisting of a congeries of fourteen lines, this body of this poem contains three quatrains and en ds with a rhyming couplet.Not just does Sonnet 146 encompass all the necessities of a Shakespearean sonnet, it also displays William Shakespeares mastery in his habit of control of language, tone, and meaning that is visualised to the reader. In the opening of the poem, in quatrain one, we see the loudspeaker system as he wrestles with his own personal counterpoint between the spiritual and material state that he has found himself in. For here in this Shakespearean sonnet, the speaker addresses not a friend, lover, or mistress just his own poor soul that has suddenly been placed at the center of his sinful earth (line 1).The speaker reprimands his soul for spending so much on its outward walls (line 4). In quatrain two, the poet asks the question of why so much effort is put into the investing of the things that are temporary Why so large cost, having so short a lease (line 5). For at death, only worms will inherit the costly excesses. In quatrain three, the speaker conclude s his argument by warning his soul to use the body as thy servant (line 9).Let the outside wither -pine- so that the inner soul stick out prosper -aggravate thy store (line 10). In conclusion, the rhyming couplet shows us the speakers only solution to this inevitable fact of life death. The soul needs to prepare itself for when the time comes and it must position death. For the soul can outlive the body, and even conquer death, as we see in line 13 and 14 So shalt thou feed on Death, that feeds on men / And Death once dead, theres no more dying then. This sonnet is one of few written by Shakespeare that reflects a more phantasmal tone, as the words sinful, divine, and soul are present. What an interesting insight this provides to the reader about the writers own potential internal struggle with morality. For just as the speaker asserts here in this poem, so too us true for us in our own Christian faith that when we focus on the body (the temporary) by allowing ourselves to worr y over the adorning of it, then we do so at the expense of our soul (the eternal).