Sonnet 103
Alack, what poverty my Muse brings forth,
poetry
beauty
inadequacy
silence
Alack, what poverty my Muse brings forth,
That having such a scope to show her pride,
The argument all bare is of more worth
Than when it hath my added praise beside!
O, blame me not, if I no more can write!
Look in your glass, and there appears a face
That over-goes my blunt invention quite,
Dulling my lines and doing me disgrace.
Were it not sinful then, striving to mend,
To mar the subject that before was well?
For to no other pass my verses tend
Than of your graces and your gifts to tell;
And more, much more, than in my verse can sit
Your own glass shows you when you look in it.
What It Means
The Muse produces poverty — poor verse that can't add to what already exists. The young man's face is its own best subject; writing about it can only diminish it. Where's the point in putting into words what the mirror shows better? The sonnet is asking whether writing about someone you love is actually possible without reducing them.
Context
Part of the Fair Youth sequence, closing the return-to-poetry group.
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