Trees are starting to arrive today, I’ll have a lot of work potting and planting them. I thought my order of six peach trees was going to arrive today, it’s not which is good because I’m not ready for that yet. Over the weekend some good work was accomplished clearing out the forest and I’ll spend what time I can getting ready for the future generations of trees coming.
Sonnet 7 compares human life to the rising and setting of the sun.
*”Lo! In the orient when the gracious light lifts up his burning head” Lo means look or see, like lo and behold. Orient refers to Asia, or the far east, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, so he’s saying look to the east when the sun rises, or gracious light lifts up his burning head.
*”each under eye doth homage to his new-appearing sight” Each under eye are the observers, eyes under the sun, they do homage, homage meaning special honor or public respect. We are all happy to see a new day dawn. New appearing sight could also be birth, humans opening their eyes for the first time.
*”Serving with looks his sacred majesty” Serving with looks, the sun serves looks offering sight by light. Connecting to a human life, in the begging of life everyone wants to see the baby, also in youth is when we are most beauteous. A synonym for majesty is beauty, and sacred means connected with God. We are God’s children.
*”having climb’d the steep-up heavenly hill” The sun is climbing, rising in the morning. There is word play with heavenly and sacred. We’ve seen heavenly hill multiple times in our study of the Psalms. Steep likely refers to the sharp angle of the sun’s movement and another definition to steep is a staircase or hill, so there is word play with steep hill.
*”Resembling strong youth in his middle age” Going back to the human life metaphor, middle age would be our strongest, still feeling young. The sun’s middle age would be it’s peak, high noon.
*”Mortal looks adore his beauty still” Mortal, human life. Humans adore both the beauty of a sunny day and of youth.
*”Attending on his golden pilgrimage” Golden being how we might describe the sun and it’s daily movement a pilgrimage. Pilgrimage is also a journey to a sacred place, continuing the Godly theme.
*”when from highmost pitch, with weary car” I mentioned high noon, pitch would refer to musical pitch, a sound wave would have a high point and low point. Weary means tired and car in the 1600’s wouldn’t be an automobile, rather shakespeare uses car here and elsewhere to reference Apollo, greek god of the sun, his chariot that carries the sun.
*From the top, “like feeble age, he reeleth from the day” The human is getting older, past midlife, he reeleth from the day. Reeleth is worn out by fatigue, he’s getting tired and going down.
*”The eyes, ‘fore dutetous, now converted are from his low tract, and look another way.” Before the sun and man had a job to do, duteous. Converted, changed, and look another way, it was going up, now down. Look another way, could also be how young people are looked on for their beauty, treating them with importance. With age people look away, ignoring the elderly.
*”Thyself outgoing in thy noon” the person is heading toward the end of life. Unlook’d, people don’t care about you anymore, “diest unless thou get a son”
Because he is so obsessed with the topic I had to look up if Shakespeare had kids. With his wife Anne they had three children. The eldest, Susanna and twins Judith and Hamnet. Shakespeare had four grandchildren who all died without heirs, so there is no direct descendant to Shakespeare today. A shame because those Royalties would be worth a lot.
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