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Herbert
SONNET NO. 11 As fast as thou shalt wane so fast thou growest,
In one of thine from that which thou departest,
And that fresh blood which youngly thou bestow'st,
Thou mayst call thine when thou from youth convertest
Here in lives wisdom, beauty and increase,
Without this, folly, age and cold decay:
If all were minded so, the times should cease,
And three score year would make the world away:
Let those whom nature hath not made for store,
Harsh, featureless and rude, barrenly perish,
Look whom she best endowed, she gave the more:
Which bounteous gift thou should'st in bounty cherish,
She carved thee for her seal and meant thereby
Thou should'st print more, not let that copy die.
Note the repetition of the word thou, we find-thou, thou,
thou,
thou, thou, thou, thou.
Here Bacon tells Herbert that as fast as he wanes he grows
again
in one of his children which he has left and that by bestow-
ing
fresh blood which he bestows on a child when he is young
he
can call that child his which he when young had converted
(changed). By doing this there will be wisdom, beauty
and
increase-if he does not have a child-there will be nothing
left
to
him but folly-old age and decay. If every man decided
not
to
beget a child-the world would come to an end in sixty years'
time
and that childless men would barrenly die. That
nature
gave
to the best endowed people the gift of being able to create
children and that he should cherish such a gift-that nature
had
carved him for her seal (stamped design) from which he should
print
(produce) another and not die childless.