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SONNET 34Why didst thou promise such a beauteous day,And make me travel forth without my cloak, To let base clouds o'ertake me in my way, Hiding thy bravery in their rotten smoke? 'Tis not enough that through the cloud thou break, To dry the rain on my storm-beaten face, For no man well of such a salve can speak That heals the wound and cures not the disgrace: Nor can thy shame give physic to my grief; Though thou repent, yet I have still the loss: The offender's sorrow lends but weak relief To him that bears the strong offence's [cross]. Ah! but those tears are pearl which thy love sheds, And they are rich and ransom all ill deeds. NOTES XXXIV. Imagery similar to that of the last Sonnet is used, and the poet again contrasts the dark storm-clouds with the promise of the early morning. The sun, however, is beginning to break through the clouds; the poet's friend shows signs of penitence. But tears shed after the offence had been committed could give no adequate relief. Still, on second thoughts, the poet pronounces these tears a rich treasure and a full satisfaction. 3. Base clouds. The clouds are "base" on account of their dampness defacing and obscuring the glory of the heavens. 4. Bravery. Glory and splendour. Rotten smoke. Meaning possibly damp, unwholesome vapour. Steevens compares "the reek o' the rotten fins." Coriolanus, Act iii. sc. 3, line 121. "Rotten," however, may here mean "loose," "wanting in coherence." 6. To dry the rain, &c. Continuing the imagery of the last Sonnet, according to which the poet had been overtaken by a storm. 12. [Cross]. Q. has "losse," which may possibly have remained by oversight on a revision of the MS. 13. Sheds. Q. "sheeds." How to cite this article:______ Even More...  Stratford School Days: What Did Shakespeare Read? Games in Shakespeare's England [A-L] Games in Shakespeare's England [M-Z] An Elizabethan Christmas Clothing in Elizabethan England Queen Elizabeth: Shakespeare's Patron King James I of England: Shakespeare's Patron The Earl of Southampton: Shakespeare's Patron Going to a Play in Elizabethan London Ben Jonson and the Decline of the Drama Religion in Shakespeare's England Alchemy and Astrology in Shakespeare's Day Entertainment in Elizabethan England London's First Public Playhouse Shakespeare Hits the Big Time
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