Conclusion of Meaning

From what the speaker has said and from the words used in the poem, this is what the speaker’s situation appears to be and how the speaker views love.  Regardless of what the speaker may have thought of him or herself, this is what the words he or she used reveal about the situation being encountered in this dramatic scenario.  The New Critics would hold that the words are where the true meaning are to be found, and not in the intention of the author or speaker, and part of this is a criticism of any individual’s own ability to truly know from where one’s own actions are inspired.  Love is a powerful and often confusing emotion, and under its influence it may perhaps be the case that more truth will reside in what one says than what one thinks to him or herself.

Appendix

Shakespeare’s Sonnet

“154″

The little Love-god lying once asleep,
Laid by his side his heart-inflaming brand,
Whilst many nymphs that vowed chaste life to keep,
Came tripping by, but in her maiden hand,
The fairest votary took up that fire,
Which many legions of true hearts had warmed,
And so the general of hot desire,
Was sleeping by a virgin hand disarmed.
This brand she quenched in a cool well by,
Which from Love’s fire took heat perpetual,
Growing a bath and healthful remedy,
For men discased, but I my mistress’ thrall,
Came there for cure and this by that I prove,
Love’s fire heats water, water cools not love.

Work Cited

“Cupid.” Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase & Fable. Millennium Edition. 2001.

“Discase.” The Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford

          University Press. 5 (1933).

“Fair.” The Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford

          University Press. 5 (1933).

“Fire.” The Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford

          University Press. 5 (1933).

“Heat.” The Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford

          University Press. 7 (1933).

“Maiden.” The Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford

          University Press. 9 (1933).

“Mistress.” The Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford

          University Press. 9 (1933).

“Nymphs.” Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase & Fable. Millennium Edition. 2001.

“Water.” The Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford

          University Press. 19 (1933).