Legend of Shakespeare - Sonnet II Quiz

Answer: Aging

Interestingly, though Shakespeare uses a warfare term (besiege), he is actually referring to aging. The sonnet looks ahead to a time when he is older. It is possible the reference of forty winters meant the adding of forty years to the then-twenty-year-old, making this sonnet about Shakespeare at sixty.

However, in the times he lived, forty could have been considered old, so he may also be referring to the time he reaches forty winters (as opposed to referring to forty more winters).

Answer: Trenches

This is possibly another war-related term, when an army would dig trenches under enemy walls. However, it could also be an agricultural reference, when furrows would be dug during ploughing. In either case, the line is a metaphor for the wrinkles on an old man's face (trenches in a beauty field). Certainly wrinkles seem bad enough; calling them trenches sounds outrageous!

Answer: Uniform

A livery was a uniform worn by servants, typically in a nobleman's house. The uniform could be quite extravagant, as a sign of the nobleman's wealth. The line here is describing the youthful clothing now worn, as it has become old along with the person.

Answer: Old clothing

Thy proud livery has now become a totter'd weed. This is indicating that the once youthful apparel has now gotten old and tattered. Perhaps this is a way of describing life itself, once so young and fresh, then old and worn and wrinkly.

Of course, totter'd in this context is simply an old way of spelling tattered, and weeds in Shakespeare's time referred to clothing.

Answer: Masked should be asked

This line is indeed asking a question, but at a future time. "When it's asked, 'where has all the beauty gone?'" Again a line about aging, this one really delves deep into the mind of an aging man. The question shows a man reflecting on his life, which now seemed so short.

In essence, one could look back through their years and wonder where the time had gone (where did all the beauty lie?).

Answer: Sunken

In answer to previous lines of the sonnet (to say, when asked), the response begins with sunken eyes. This could be a reference to the aging process, when the eyes are no longer youthful in appearance. This is possibly alluding to the thought of the youth of an old man only being apparent in the eyes. Though the eyes are deep in the sockets, it is the place you peer to see the youth that once was.

After all, the eyes are the window to the soul (and no one truly ages in the mind).

Answer: Undeserving self-commendation

An all-eating shame refers to such a shame that all sense of right and decorum is lost. The thriftless praise is referring to self-commendation that is not warranted, and possibly even damaging to oneself.

As an example, I could say "I'm the best dang quiz author FunTrivia has ever known!" But this thriftless praise could cause a few correction notices saying how wrong I am about the subject. My self-praise of myself would end up damaging my reputation, most likely.

Answer: Fair child of mine

The line refers to having offspring. In one's old age, it can be quite rewarding to have a child to continue the family lineage. The line here shows the importance of having such a child; it is saying, in effect, "if only one can answer 'this is my child'".

The line is also referring to beauty once again. The man would pass his beauty on to his offspring, and this child could then be praised for that beauty. It would start the cycle over; that beautiful child could then have offspring of his own to continue to pass down the youthful beauty.

Answer: Nothing should be changed

This line again refers to an offspring and his lineage. Through this new child, one's beauty is, in a way, continued. This means that the child proves himself as a successful heir to the old man's beauty.

Not only would the offspring continue the beauty, it would also prove, so to speak, the beauty the old man once had. This is saying, then, that due to the beautiful appearance of a son, the father must have been quite beautiful in his younger days as well (though we have established that he is now old and wrinkly).

Answer: Blood

In Shakespeare's time, cold blood was believed to accompany old age. The line is suggesting that, through the old man's offspring, he could, in effect, be renewed in his old age. His blood would be warm once again.

As a treat, the entire sonnet can be read below.

"When forty winters shall besiege thy brow,
And dig deep trenches in thy beauty's field,
Thy youth's proud livery so gazed on now,
Will be a totter'd weed of small worth held:
Then being asked, where all thy beauty lies,
Where all the treasure of thy lusty days;
To say, within thine own deep sunken eyes,
Were an all-eating shame, and thriftless praise.
How much more praise deserv'd thy beauty's use,
If thou couldst answer 'This fair child of mine
Shall sum my count, and make my old excuse,'
Proving his beauty by succession thine!
This were to be new made when thou art old,
And see thy blood warm when thou feel'st it cold."