Help settle a bet

[JackWilson]

So I'm in the cafeteria with a bunch of friends yesterday. My one friend switched his degree this year and he's doing 1st-year English. My other friend is an English major doing some post-graduate stuff.

So 1st-year friend is studying for a test and is struggling with a poem and he asks our opinion. Obviously English Major goes off on a long tirade about everything and I read the poem and disagree. So we decided to have a bet. We're gonna find out on Monday probably but my friend wants to up the bet from R200 to R500 (it's about $30 and $75 respectively) after he's done some "research."

Should I take his offer?

Here's the poem. Our different interpretations follow in white:

Sonnet 1: Samuel Daniel

Unto the boundless Ocean of thy beauty
Runs this poor river, charg'd with streams of zeal:
Returning thee the tribute of my duty,
Which here my love, my youth, my plaints reveal.
Here I unclasp the book of my charg'd soul,
Where I have cast th'accounts of all my care:
Here have I summ'd my sighs, here I enroll
How they were spent for thee; look what they are.
Look on the dear expences of my youth,
And see how just I reckon with thine eyes:
Examine well they beauty in my truth,
And cross my cares ere greater sums arise.
Read it, sweet maid, though it be done but slightly;
Who can show all his love, doth love but lightly.

Interpretations in white below:
<font color="white">We both agree it's about unrequited love, but I think it's about the poet going back to try and get with this woman who he loved when he was younger. He tried earlier in his life but got shot down by her. Now he's really opening up to her and pouring his feelings out to her in the form of a poem (I think, not sure about that). He's also saying there's even more love for her than he can possibly write down.

My friend thinks it's about the poet cutting his losses after possibly being in some sort of relationship with this woman and he's had enough now of her not loving him. He says the poet feels like he wasted his youth with this woman. He still thinks she's beautiful and everything but he's giving up on her. </font>

[Turkish Mickey]

[ QUOTE ]
We're gonna find out on Monday probably but my friend wants to up the bet from R200 to R500 (it's about $30 and $75 respectively) after he's done some "research."

[/ QUOTE ]

I suck balls at poetry but this should definately set off some alarm bells.

[Peter Harris]

Poll:

[Macdaddy Warsaw]

It seems like it could go either way, and I don't know how you could prove it one way or the other. Unless by research your friend means he read something from the poet about this poem, I doubt anyone could tell you for sure.

I would lean towards moving on, just because of the two lines
"Here I unclasp the book of my charg'd soul,
Where I have cast th'accounts of all my care:"

[tsearcher]

[ QUOTE ]
It seems like it could go either way, and I don't know how you could prove it one way or the other. Unless by research your friend means he read something from the poet about this poem, I doubt anyone could tell you for sure.

I would lean towards moving on, just because of the two lines
"Here I unclasp the book of my charg'd soul,
Where I have cast th'accounts of all my care:"

[/ QUOTE ]


I agree. Additionally, these two lines appear to reinforce the leaving aspect:

"Read it, sweet maid, though it be done but slightly;
Who can show all his love, doth love but lightly."

It just sounds like a smart ass kiss off to me. And you do have the words "it be done".

[Oski]

I think you will be proven as the winner.

From what I read on Samuel Daniel, he composed a large number of sonnets to "Diana" as he was living in Italy. This sonnet (#1) was the first in the series of which later was collected into a book.

If Daniel is planning on leaving Diana, it would be odd to write another 30+ sonnets to her.

Okay: My interpretation of the poem is that he is reflecting back on a point in his youth and his relationship with the subject. He is at a place where he can finally understand his true feelings which have been revealed to him ("book unclasped").

It seems that he recognizes that previously, he was too coy about his feelings for the subject, and that he now is prepared to declare his love for her (or at least expand on that subject in the next 30+ sonnets!)

[Oski]

By the way, I want to know the English major's opinion about the song Skeletor v. Beastman by Gnarkill.

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

This is the gayest bet I've ever heard of.

[bobman0330]

I think you're right, but I'm not sure.

I'm not really sure about this pair of lines:
"Examine well they beauty in my truth,
And cross my cares ere greater sums arise."

I think it means, "Look how beautiful I think you are, and get rid of my cares by doing it with me." But it could mean something like "I'm writing this thing off before I accrue more cares." The fact that it's addressed to her doesn't really make sense with the latter interpretation though.

[DarthIgnurnt]

[ QUOTE ]
This is the gayest bet I've ever heard of.

[/ QUOTE ]

QFMFT.

I had high hopes when I opened the thread. Maybe one of you could [censored] in a Ziploc bag or eat a white cotton t-shirt if you lose.