As sonnet number 17 begins, a clear and present dilemma is apparent from the very first line. The poet looks to the future and thinks of who in the future that reads this will ever believe what is written about such a beautiful woman. It must be presented though, that many believe this to be written about a young man. I in this case, have chosen to believe it to be about a woman. The poet’s problems continue with words to say that the disbelief would exist even if what is written could describe, like magnificent desserts, how superb the youthful qualities of this woman are. They are too much and too many for the poets’ pen to do so.
The poet then starts to bring in the idea of death and physical end to the beauty when the written words of the sonnet are compared to a tomb. This comparison describes the sonnet to hide or cover up the amazing life and qualities that readers should always know about. The poet’s dilemma continues as seen by these lines about a hidden life in a tomb that does not disclose much information and such a short glimpse given to its viewer would not be enough as her beauty deserves much more.
The poet transitions for a moment from thinking how futile his words would be on paper to the thinking about if possible, how many different ways her beauty could be described. The poet thinks of the numerous and countless verses that could be written about her gracious qualities.But even after such thinking of how it could be done, the defeat can still be felt in the following verses.
The feeling of defeat is again apparent when the thought of future readers comes into the picture. The poet believes that no one will ever believe what is being written about this woman, calling the poet a liar that exaggerates about her. Not only is it believed that the poet will be called a liar, but readers will say that such heavenly attributes have never even belonged to or were relevant to humans here on earth.
As the poet tries to move past these past futile thoughts, the question of what to do next arises. Should such words and the paper that this is written on be scorned through time? The use of scorn or a despicable view for the work is used to show how strong he believes the opinion of the readers will be. The poet compares this view of the sonnet it self to how people see old men that gabble and have speech (or tongue) filled with nonsense.
The continued view of what might happen to the sonnet continues in these verses. The poet does not want the readers to think of this description to be just something he is passionately exaggerating about, but for them to truly understand how praiseworthy her beauty is. The specific terms used in these lines have much more meaning than may initially meet the eye. The true rights refer to the due praise that the beautiful woman deserves. The rage of the poet could refer to a frenzied inspiration or the reason for the enthusiasm. The stretched metre may refer to a few different things. It could mean that the poems are irregular or too long, or it could imply an exaggeration in the descriptions. And lastly, the use of antique may imply the song of this sonnet to be valuable, old, or even slightly bizarre.
After going through such an ordeal of how to write past the likelihood that the words of this sonnet will bring about such a reaction in the future, the poet comes to a conclusion of how to resolve the problem.The proposed solution is children. The poet believes that if this woman has children, her beauty would live both through the generations and also in his writings. This would show the skeptics and future readers that this amazing beauty is irrefutable and true. This final solution by the poet is a way for the descriptions to truly become immortal.
