SONNET 62 TANNED ANTIQUITY: Sin of self-love possesseth all mine eye

Sin of self-love possesseth all mine eye
And all my soul, and all my every part;
And for this sin there is no remedy,
It is so grounded inward in my heart.
Methinks no face so gracious is as mine,
No shape so true, no truth of such account;
And for myself mine own worth do define,
As I all other in all worths surmount.
But when my glass shows me myself indeed
Beated and chopp'd with tanned antiquity,
Mine own self-love quite contrary I read;
Self so self-loving were iniquity.
   'Tis thee, myself, that for myself I praise,
   Painting my age with beauty of thy days.


Mnemonic Image

TANNED ANTIQUITY

Memory Passage

WAVES on the Ocean of Time crash upon the pebbled shore where stands the WATCHMAN whose face is a model of TANNED ANTIQUITY

Idiosyncratic Abstract:

Couplet Imagery

'Tis thee, myself, that for myself I praise,
   Painting my age with beauty of thy days.

painting / cosmetic / cf. S68 & S69, S101


Q1

Sin of self-love possesseth all mine eye
And all my soul, and all my every part;
And for this sin there is no remedy,
It is so grounded inward in my heart.

Q2

Methinks no face so gracious is as mine,
No shape so true, no truth of such account;
And for myself mine own worth do define,
As I all other in all worths surmount.

Q3

But when my glass shows me myself indeed
Beated and chopp'd with tanned antiquity,
Mine own self-love quite contrary I read;
Self so self-loving were iniquity.

C

'Tis thee, myself, that for myself I praise,
   Painting my age with beauty of thy days.