Sonnet 14

Honest Sonnet#14 I hate deadlines too

3 01 2010

As far as I can tell Francis Bacon had an enormous intellectual capacity and had a great many projects going on all the time. One of his first goals, as a teenager, was to take all knowledge as his providence. He apparently did that.

He also had an off and on love life but he was also in love with his major project of bringing England out of the dark ages through education mostly through writing and also plays performed in theaters. His project for mankind was called the Great Instaturation.

Hitler and others tried world domination through bombs and bullets. Francis tried for world domination through education. Francis has had some success for many reasons which included anominity.

He probably figured that the plays and other works would have more empact on peoples lives if they were freer to derive their own meaning from them rather than be tempted to scramble to find out what was on his mindwhen he wrote the plays. He promoted the educational style of dialogue and conversation that he was taught from very early.

He believed that if people were encouraged to think for themselves they would arrive at the right answers.

In sonnet 14 he was having trouble trusting his judgement or his mother the Queen’s judgement. For most of his adult life he pressured her to give him a special rank in government with a good stipend so he could have an open road to promote and and administer his Great Instaturation. The Queen never said no to him but she never said yes, either so he was a roller coaster of hope and uncertainty or outright depression: Will she or will she not?

It is my geuss that he wrote sonnet 14 while waiting for an event that may influence her opinion or was preparing for the outcome of his own dead line for her. As you can read he tries to remain hopeful but it is hard to do that.

Francis is in red with numbered lines Edwin is in green.

1. Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck;

I don’t depend on astrology or fate to guide my decisions

2. And yet methinks I have astronomy,

and yet I think I am directed by the fate

3. But not to tell of good or evil luck,

and not able to predict good or evil luck

4. Of plagues, of dearths, or seasons’ quality;

of plagues, od deaths or the seasons weather

5. Nor can I fortune to brief minutes tell,

nor can I tell what will happen from minure to minute

6. Pointing to each his thunder, rain and wind,

wondering about his/my stormy mood

7. Or say with princes if it shall go well,

or predict if all will go well with the Queen

8. By oft predict that I in heaven find:

by often predicting that she will find me heavenly

9. But from thine eyes my knowledge I derive,

But by looking in my eyes I see and know

10.And, constant stars, in them I read such art

and I read my gaze like the astrologers art

11.As truth and beauty shall together thrive,

as truth is beauty and beauty is truth

12.If from thyself to store thou wouldst convert;

If I hold that as my belief I/she would change

13.Or else of thee this I prognosticate:

or I’m only going to prognosticate

14.Thy end is truth’s and beauty’s doom and date.

That my truth will end and beauty is doomed by a certain time and I can’t do anything about it now.