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SONNET 74But be contented: when that fell arrestWithout all bail shall carry me away, My life hath in this line some interest, Which for memorial still with thee shall stay. When thou reviewest this, thou dost review The very part was consecrate to thee: The earth can have but earth, which is his due; My spirit is thine, the better part of me: So then thou hast but lost the dregs of life, The prey of worms, my body being dead, The coward conquest of a wretch's knife, Too base of thee to be remembered. The worth of that is that which it contains, And that is this, and this with thee remains. NOTES In lxxii. the poet had said that it would be better that both he and his works should be forgotten, neither the one nor the other having just claim to immortality. He now reverts to the thought that his verse will live when he is dead. His spirit and life are there treasured up for "a life beyond life." Death can only prey on "the dregs of life." 1. But be contented. -- Looks back to the last line of lxxiii. That fell arrest. Cf. Hamlet, Act v. sc. 2, lines 347, 348:- Had I but time (as this fell serjeant Death"Fell" means "harsh," "inexorable." 2. Without all bail. Accepting no bail. 3. My living powers will still express themselves in these poems. Interest. -- Property. Cf. xxxi. 7. 6. Cf. Martial, Ep. vii. 84, "Certior in nostro carmine vultus erit." The language of our text is stronger, speaking of the inner man, which is thoroughly identified with the written verse (line 8). 11. The coward conquest of a wretch's knife. -- There is no reason whatever for supposing from this line that Shakespeare had encountered highwaymen or assassins to whose violence he had succumbed, and who had left him half-dead. The meaning is, that what of him had not been treasured up in his verse was mean and base, liable to succumb to the assassin's knife. 13. The worth of that. -- Of the body. Is that which it contains, i.e., the spirit (line 8). 14. And that is this. Identified and incorporated with my verse. 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 Publishing in Elizabethan England Shakespeare's Audience 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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