Great Regulars: The speaker then realizes that the ease

of just sitting and listening to the river could, in fact, become quite addictive, and he has seen this happen to so many other folks. But this speaker's conscience will not allow him to succumb to a way of life that will eventually provide him nothing but poverty and stagnation. Instead of allowing himself to become a bum on the river, "somp'n way inside me rared up an' say,/'Better be movin' . . . better be travelin' . . ./Riverbank'll git you ef you stay. . . .'."

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Brown's Riverbank Blues

~~~~~~~~~~~

His life is "dead" even as he prays for "lively bliss." He will flaunt his sorrow and misery while looking for more ways of expressing his melancholy. His exaggeration saturates his dramatic expression, as he continues to complain, mourn, and yearn for his absent beloved.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Edmund Spenser's Sonnet 89

~~~~~~~~~~~

He emphasizes the necessity of living in the moment by rightly calling it "the uncertain harvest." By looking so far ahead and not appreciating the beauty of the current moment, the individual not only loses that current moment but also may be disappointed by that future harvest, if it fails to produce enough quality fruit.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Frost's A Prayer in Spring

~~~~~~~~~~~

But once she is on her way, she realizes "the world's open." She then observes that the sky is turning pink with the rising of the sun, but she dramatizes that sunrise in a very telling way: "the sky begins to blush/as you did when your mother told you/what it took to be a woman in this life."

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Rita Dove--Two Sonnets

~~~~~~~~~~~

The speaker then poses two questions instead of offering claims motivated by his observations about "reckoning Time." He wonders why, even knowing about and "fearing Time's tyranny," he is unable to simply say, "Now I love you best."

He is certain that the statement is true, and he assumes that he should be able to make this remark without having to know all future thoughts and feelings that might assail him. But the statement offers such a bald assertion that it does not seem to capture completely all he truly feels.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Shakespeare Sonnet 115

~~~~~~~~~~~

The speaker in this regard then seeks out his Muse as a devotee would seek out a priest for confession. His Muse behaves as his anchor as well as his inspiration; she has the power to absolve his transgressions, but this power comes solely through the speaker/artist's ability to create his salvation in art. The complexity of his relationship with his Muse remains a unique achievement with this speaker/poet.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Shakespeare Sonnet 117

~~~~~~~~~~~

However, he did not actually do anything to bring on true illness, he only used a preventative medicine, which makes the patient ill in order to prevent a worse illness, for example, taking a vaccine. The patient may experience a slight fever or other symptoms, but these are far preferable to having the disease itself.

Even so, the speaker is using all this as a metaphor. He does not mean that he took a physical medicine; he is referring only to a way of thinking; therefore, the medicine to which he refers is mental, his thinking process, not physical, not actually swallowing medicine.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Shakespeare Sonnet 118

~~~~~~~~~~~

He then addresses "Disease," commanding it, "ply your tortures." Despite the ravages of illness, the speaker can again repeat, "Still I am free, ever free." When the opposite of "Disease," that is, "Health" has been one's fortune, the human may become overconfident; thus, the speaker commands, "Health, try your lures."

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Yogananda's Freedom

~~~~~~~~~~~