Sonnet 101

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Shakespeare. Sonnet 1

«O truant Muse, what shall be thy amends
For thy neglect of truth in beauty dyed?». 

Continuing his plea to the Muse of poetry, the poet abandons his silence and philosophizes about the nature of truth and beauty.

Sonnet 101
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O truant Muse, what shall be thy amends
For thy neglect of truth in beauty dyed?
Both truth and beauty on my love depends;
So dost thou too, and therein dignified.
Make answer, Muse: wilt thou not haply say
‘Truth needs no colour, with his colour fix’d;
Beauty no pencil, beauty’s truth to lay;
But best is best, if never intermix’d?’
Because he needs no praise, wilt thou be dumb?
Excuse not silence so; for’t lies in thee
To make him much outlive a gilded tomb,
And to be praised of ages yet to be.
Then do thy office, Muse; I teach thee how
To make him seem long hence as he shows now.

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Nature, he says, is the poet’s truth; cosmetic beauty, his falsehood: “Truth needs no color with his color fixed, / Beauty no pencil, beauty’s truth to lay.” He also returns to another of his favorite themes, the young man’s immortality through his verse; he recognizes that his only responsibility in life is “To make him much outlive a gilded tomb / And to be praised of ages yet to be.”

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Credits

English audio from YouTube Channel Socratica

Summary from Cliffsnotes.com

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