Table of Contents / Related Topics
www.sirbacon.org
Herbert
SONNET NO. 13 0, that you were yourself, but love you are
No longer yours, then you yourself here live,
Against this coming end you should prepare,
And your sweet semblance to some other give,
So should that beauty which you hold in lease
Find no determination, then you were
Yourself again after your self's decease,
When your sweet issue your sweet form should bear,
Who lets so fair a house fall to decay,
Which husbandry in honour might uphold
Against the stormy gusts of winter's day
And barren rage of death's eternal cold,
0, none but unthrifts, dear my love, you know
You had a father, let your son say so.
Note the repetition of the following words, we
find-yourself,
yourself, yourself, yourself, you, you, you, you, you, you,
you,
you, your, your, your, your (see 16).
Here Bacon addressing Herbert tells him that he is
himself
only so long as he lives and should prepare for death (this
coming end) and give his sweet semblance (likeness) to some
one
else so that his beauty which he held in lease (for a term
only)
should not end (find no determination). And that if he
did
this he would be himself again after he had died when his
sweet
issue (children) should his own sweet form (pattern) bear.
That he should not let so fair a house (his body) fall to
decay
when husbandry (tillage) in honour might uphold it against
storms
and death. And that because he had a father so he should
let
his son say the same.