#sonnet 36

[jesmalestiel]

Shakespeare's Sonnets are SO aziracrow coded istg

Okay so last night I was doing a bit of bedtime reading and I picked up my book of Shakespeare sonnets because they are comfy and familiar and omg some of them are so aziracrow coded???

I posted about it on Reddit and @kotias pointed out that almost all of the sonnets are aziracrow coded and she head canons that Shakespeare fell in love with the two of them and his sonnets are about the two of them. And she is so right??? Like the idea of Aziraphale as the fair youth and Crowley as the Dark Lady just fits???

But also I love the idea of the sonnets being things that Aziraphale or Crowley might have written to each other.

The two that really stuck out to me as I was reading are sonnet 36 and sonnet 142. Sonnet 36 is all about how the two lovers need to break up because being together will cause public shame and it is forbidden for them to openly be together. So I really picture that as being something Crowley has written in order that Aziraphale would not be exposed as loving a demon and forced out of Heaven into hell. By the time we get to the modern day Crowley is much more of the mind that they should just run off together, but I think it definitely took her a long time to get to that point and in an earlier era she would have just wanted Aziraphale protected.

Let me confess that we two must be twain Although our undivided loves are one; So shall those blots that do with me remain, Without thy help, by me be borne alone. In our two loves there is but one respect, Though in our lives a separable spite, Which though it alter not love’s sole effect, Yet doth it steal sweet hours from love’s delight. I may not evermore acknowledge thee, Lest my bewailèd guilt should do thee shame, Nor thou with public kindness honor me Unless thou take that honor from thy name. But do not so. I love thee in such sort   As, thou being mine, mine is thy good report.

And then sonnet 142 I just picture it as Aziraphale being like “loving you is a sin and I hate myself for it but I can’t stop” like.... it's giving “you’re unworthy of my love and I don’t care for the company you keep but I love you anyway and your sins make me love you more" and I just ahhhh. It just fits *so well* in my brain.

Love is my sin, and thy dear virtue hate, Hate of my sin, grounded on sinful loving. O, but with mine compare thou thine own state, And thou shalt find it merits not reproving; Or if it do, not from those lips of thine, That have profaned their scarlet ornaments And sealed false bonds of love as oft as mine, Robbed others’ beds’ revenues of their rents. Be it lawful I love thee as thou lov’st those Whom thine eyes woo as mine importune thee: Root pity in thy heart, that, when it grows, Thy pity may deserve to pitied be.     If thou dost seek to have what thou dost hide,     By self-example mayst thou be denied.

[p-isforpoetry]

Sonnet 36 by William Shakespeare (read by Sir Patrick Stewart)

Let me confess that we two must be twain, Although our undivided loves are one: So shall those blots that do with me remain, Without thy help, by me be borne alone.

In our two loves there is but one respect, Though in our lives a separable spite, Which though it alter not love's sole effect, Yet doth it steal sweet hours from love's delight.

I may not evermore acknowledge thee, Lest my bewailed guilt should do thee shame, Nor thou with public kindness honour me, Unless thou take that honour from thy name:

  But do not so, I love thee in such sort,   As thou being mine, mine is thy good report.

[p-isforpoetry]

Sonnet 36 by William Shakespeare (read by Ossie Davis)

Let me confess that we two must be twain, Although our undivided loves are one: So shall those blots that do with me remain, Without thy help, by me be borne alone.

In our two loves there is but one respect, Though in our lives a separable spite, Which though it alter not love's sole effect, Yet doth it steal sweet hours from love's delight.

I may not evermore acknowledge thee, Lest my bewailed guilt should do thee shame, Nor thou with public kindness honour me, Unless thou take that honour from thy name:

  But do not so, I love thee in such sort,   As thou being mine, mine is thy good report.

Source: The Complete Shakespeare Sonnets

[seekerofpatterns]

This Shakespeare sonnet was printed inside one of my Chocolove bars:

Let me confess that we two must be twain,

Although our undivided loves are one:

So shall those blots that do with me remain,

Without thy help, by me be borne alone.

In our two loves there is but one respect,

Though in our lives a separable spite,

Which though it alter not love’s sole effect,

Yet doth it steal sweet hours from love’s delight.

I may not evermore acknowledge thee,

Lest my bewailed guilt should do thee shame,

Nor thou with public kindness honour me,

Unless thou take that honour from thy name:

But do not so; I love thee in such sort,

As thou being mine, mine is thy good report.

—William Shakespeare, Sonnet 36

It immediately reminded me of Wei Ying and Lan Zahn. So I go to look it up, and lo and behold:

"It's a member of the Fair Youth sequence, in which the speaker expresses his love towards a young man."

Well, there it is. Shakespearean Wangxian.

[angel-with-a-shotgun-bea]

Things I am definitely NOT gonna include in my thesis although it is oh so tempting:

To sum up Sonnet 20, dude looks like a lady (and there is a published scholar who put it that way)

W.S. around Sonnet 20: I love you, I really do but we can't really have sex, the physical parts just, like, don't fit...

W.S. sometime later: Did my research, dude, sorry, my bad

Sonnet 36: It is not supposed to be meticulously interpreted word by word and laid bare in parts, it is supposed to be crIED OVER UNTIL YOUR EYES ARE DRY AND YOUR WHOLE EXISTENCE IS SHAKING AND YOUR SOUL IS IN PIECES

[quothshakespeare-blog]

Sonnet 36

1609 Quarto Version (for funsies)

Let me confeſſe that we two muſt be twaine, Although our vndeuided loues are one: So ſhall thoſe blots that do with me remaine, Without thy helpe, by me be borne alone. In our two loues there is but one reſpect, Though in our liues a ſeperable ſpight, Which though it alter not loues ſole effect, Yet doth it ſteal ſweete houres from loues delight, I may not euer-more acknowledge thee, Leaſt my bewailed guilt ſhould do thee ſhame, Nor thou with publike kindneſſe honour me, Vnleſſe thou take that honour from thy name:   But doe not ſo,I loue thee in ſuch ſort,   As thou being mine,mine is thy good report.

[angel-with-a-shotgun-bea]

Try to think about that one of your OTPs with the most tragic history while reading Shakespeare's Sonnet 36. I dare you. I double dare you.

Way to make one feel like Julius Caesar on the Ides of March.

[theshakespearesonnets]

Sonnet 36: Let Me Confess That We Two Must Be Twain

Let me confess that we two must be twain, Although our undivided loves are one: So shall those blots that do with me remain, Without thy help, by me be borne alone. In our two loves there is but one respect, Though in our lives a separable spite, Which though it alter not love’s sole effect, Yet doth it steal sweet hours from love’s delight. I may not evermore acknowledge thee, Lest my bewailed guilt should do thee shame, Nor thou with public kindness honour me, Unless thou take that honour from thy name: But do not so, I love thee in such sort, As thou being mine, mine is thy good report.

__________________________

Translation to modern English

Let me admit that we two have to part even though we are united in love. By parting those disgraces that we’ve brought on ourselves can be born by me alone, without any help from you. In our love for each other there is a single mind, even though circumstances, which force us apart, can’t destroy our love, but rob us of those sweet hours of mutual pleasure. I can’t ever openly acknowledge you again because my wretched guilt would bring shame on you. Nor can you honour me with public notice without dishonouring yourself. So don’t do that: my love for you is such that I value your reputation as though it were my own.