Shakespearean Sonnet 135: Meaning:?

Question

I want to know what this poem is saying.

Whoever hath her wish, thou hast thy will,

And 'Will' to boot, and 'Will' in over-plus,

More than enough am I that vex thee still,

To thy sweet will making addition thus.

Wilt thou whose will is large and spacious,

Not once vouchsafe to hide my will in thine?

Shall will in others seem right gracious,

And in my will no fair acceptance shine?

The sea all water, yet receives rain still,

And in abundance addeth to his store,

So thou being rich in will add to thy will

One will of mine to make thy large will more.

Let no unkind, no fair beseechers kill,

Think all but one, and me in that one 'Will.'

Answer 1

This is one of the Dark Lady sonnets, numbered 127-154.  The poem is actually probably not addressed to her, but fictitiously written to one of her other, more successful, admirers, `whoever hath her wish' (line1): for she is called the Dark Lady in part because she may be dark-complected, but also because she is enigmatic; and to this enigma a measure of promiscuity contributes.  The important thing to remember is that the word `will' appears in the poem thirteen times, and it is a pun on Will Shakespeare.  

You may be confused in part because the version you have quoted does not reflect the original quarto.  Your three Wills in quotes were originally in italics; but in the original seven Wills are capitalised and in italics, while the rest are lowercase.  The capital-italic Wills apparently refer to Shakespeare directly, while the other six are just puns with other primary meanings.  

Please see here for a more faithfully capitalised version of the sonnets: http://www.shakespeares-sonnets.com/alls...

You can read it like this:

Quatrain 1:

(1) To whichever man she favours, you have Will Shakespeare (2) and not just that, but Will Shakespeare to boot, and Will Shakespeare in overplus.  (3)  You have more than enough of me, and I vex you still (4) by making undesired addition to your sweet desire.  

Quatrain 2:

(5)  Will you, whose favour with the Dark Lady is large and spacious, (6) not once be pleased to hide my desire in yours?  (7)  Shall other peoples' desires seem gracious and be accepted (8) while my desires get no fair acceptance?

Quatrain 3:

(9) The sea is all water, yet it can receive rain still (10), and simply adds the rain to the abundance of its store. (11) Similarly you, being rich in the Dark Lady's favour, will only add my desire to yours; (12) my desire will only make yours more.  

Couplet:

(now probably addressed to the Dark Lady herself:) (13) Do not let any of your unkind but fair admirers kill one another; (14) instead, think them all all one person: and please include me in that one.

Does this help?  This is one of several ways to read the sonnet; although it is the most literal, Shakespeare clearly intended all of them.  Quatrains 2 and 3 are a deliberate parody of a prayer, and the metaphor about the ocean's abundance of water is from Ecclesiastes: `All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full...;' similarly the Dark Lady's will becomes subsumed with her successful admirer's will, and as one Shakespeare mocks praying to them, as though their will were the divine will-- `wilt thou...hide my will in thine,' is a classic form of `if it be thy will, O God,' etc.  

This poem is one of several Will poems (134 and 136 are adjacent ones), and one of the themes of those poems is that the Dark Lady is like a hoarding miser for affection.  This comes out faintly in this poem, when Shakespeare criticises the `abundance addeth to his store,' and calls her `rich in will.'  It is much stronger in 134, in which he says, `thou art covetous,' and 136, where he writes of `the treasure of thy love.'  Part of the enigma Shakespeare conveys about the Dark Lady surfaces in these competing sets of metaphors for her-- is she like a divine being who subsumes all creation, or a miser who merely covets and hordes the universe?

There is a lot in this sonnet, and I've only touched on it; traditionally the `thou' as Dark Lady reading would receive more emphasis than I have given it here, but the awkward union of the lady and her admirer is the highest achievement of this poem; Shakespeare does it again in Hamlet, when Hamlet insists on calling his uncle Claudius `my mother,' because Claudius married his mother, and `man and wife are one flesh.'  Shakespeare does this in many of the early sonnets too, but never as thoroughly as this one.  I hope this is a good start for you.  This is probably one of the very best sonnets, but not the easiest to follow.

Answer 2

stay loyal to me, i'll stay loyal to you basically