The sonnet does contain startling advice. I was nodding emphatically at that line you wrote. The focus on having children SHOCKED and puzzled me when I first read some of the sonnets. I love the idea that it is meant to disrupt narcissism, that if you look in the mirror and see only yourself, that is incorrect; you should also see your mother and your children. It offers a self that is more continuous and abundant and requires a retraining of the eye—but I think would still be off-putting in our culture at large!
Excellent! This really gives me an extra layer of understanding after my own reading of this one earlier. I don't know that I caught the extent of the sarcasm of the final couplet. That makes the whole thing even better.
The sonnet does contain startling advice. I was nodding emphatically at that line you wrote. The focus on having children SHOCKED and puzzled me when I first read some of the sonnets. I love the idea that it is meant to disrupt narcissism, that if you look in the mirror and see only yourself, that is incorrect; you should also see your mother and your children. It offers a self that is more continuous and abundant and requires a retraining of the eye—but I think would still be off-putting in our culture at large!
Excellent point.
A sonnet with a cliffhanger! This is a beautiful piece, thank you.
Thank you.
Excellent! This really gives me an extra layer of understanding after my own reading of this one earlier. I don't know that I caught the extent of the sarcasm of the final couplet. That makes the whole thing even better.
So says the father to the young man, adding no little guilt…”Give me a grandchild! Your mother and I aren’t getting any younger!!”
If thou thine own thou wouldst within thy thou,
Thy thou shouldst live another thou to thou.
Thou speakest trow.