~Sonnet 12 Rides With Holmes in Silver Blaze~
Sorry...the train’s moving and there is a lot going on. Let’s start at minute 4:00. As he checks his watch, Holmes is passed in the hallway by a woman in a feather hat, and a Conductor. Eventually he joins Watson inside Carriage #12.
When I do count the clock that tells the time,
And see the brave day sunk in hideous night;
When I behold the violet past prime,
And sable curls all silver’d o’er with white;
When lofty trees I see barren of leaves,
Which erst from heat did canopy the herd,
And summer’s green all girded up in sheaves,
Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard,
Then of thy beauty do I question make,
That thou among the wastes of time must go,
Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake
And die as fast as they see others grow;
And nothing ’gainst Time’s scythe can make defence
Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence.
The poem has images of mortality, and unfolds in one long ‘train’ of thought.
Here is a list of the references used in the poem, to which I see how many match the scene.
Clock: Hours on the clock, the time passing In Holmes hands
Brave: Having great beauty and/or splendor Watson
Past prime: Declining from its perfection Both of them, really
Sable: Black (A Heraldic term) Color of Silver Blaze and the word Silver’d stands out
Erst: Formerly, Once Used in reference to Silver Blaze’s reputation
Summer's Green: Foliage All around the outside
Sheaves: Bundles Watson’s newspaper
Bier: A frame used to carry a corpse to the grave. Which the train makes a good stand in for. Reminds me of V For Vendetta
Beard: In Elizabethan times, "beard" was pronounced as "bird" Well, there is a bird-like hat on the woman who walks past then a beard on the Conductor
Sweets: Virtues This and the next 4 tie in quite well with the conversation about Silver Blaze, his breeding, and some being against his run
Others: Referencing other virtues and beauties
Breed: Offspring, Descendants
So, now I see that Shakespeare sonnets are hidden in Granada Holmes. Are they also in the Canon? I don’t know, but it’s obvious Shakespeare ranks high with Holmes. His work is mentioned or referenced in the books many times; well over 15.
Other Shakespeare Sonnet Series in Sherlock
John’s Seven Lamps: A Shakespeare Sonnet Meta
The Great Game, A Sonnet, and Bus #14
@queerbaitingshouldbeillegal @asherlockstudy @thewatsonbeekeepers I said ‘motion!’