Great Regulars: Because there is no one else in the poem,

the reader infers that the couple has probably outlived most of their relatives and friends.

The couple's strength of character is demonstrated in their persistence; they keep on keeping on as they "keep on putting on their clothes/And putting things away." What might strike others as a boring existence seems to work well for his old "yellow pair."

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Brooks' 'The Bean Eaters'

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So upon encountering such an obvious falsehood, the reader shifts his thought to the soul that has left the physical body, and thus understands the speaker to be referring to the wise soul, not the dead body, which is incapable of any human activity.

A problem then confronts the reader as the tercet proceeds: the dead are wisest because they "know/How far the roots of flowers go,/How long a seed must rot to grow."

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Cullen's 'The Wise'

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By withstanding larger and larger amounts, she has become so hardy that she can "drink--and live--what has destroyed some men." Through this method, she has trained her senses so that she can now say what she said in the octave, that the object of her passion is not as lovely as the lilacs and other flowers, when in her heart, she feels quite the opposite.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Millay's 'Sonnet I'

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The speaker forms his request as "don't fawn over me when I'm dead, unless you want to diminish my poetry." As readers see repeatedly, this speaker plays with language structure to produce original discourses. He, therefore, is loath to have his productions vanquished by an emphasis on his personal life.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Shakespeare Sonnet 72

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The couplet, "The worth of [the body] is that which it contains,/And that is this, and this with thee remains," plainly declares that the only value of the body is that it contains the soul, and the speaker has put his soul in his art, which will continue to provide sustenance for all those other souls who may read his creations, including those family and friends who will mourn his loss.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Shakespeare Sonnet 74

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