Sonnet 146 Death Quotes

We talk about this quote in "Themes: Religion" but we thought we'd give it a shout-out here, too. In the opening line, the speaker makes a distinction between his immortal "soul" and his mortal body, which will eventually die and be returned to "earth." (You know—when it gets buried in the ground and stuff.)

This is where the speaker says that his soul is wasting away (pining) and starving (suffering "dearth" or famine) on the inside. So, souls can't technically suffer famine and starve, right? Nah, this is a metaphor for how the speaker's soul isn't being nourished, figuratively speaking, of course. We also want to point out that the word "death" (famine) sounds a lot like death, which suggests that this guy's soul is in danger of dying. But, how can that be possible? Aren't souls supposed to be immortal? Otherwise, what's the point?

When the speaker refers to his "fading mansion," he's talking about his mortal body, which is growing oh so old. Not only that, but he compares his body to a house that's been leased or rented for a really short period of time. The point? Life on earth is temporary. YOLO etc.

Ugh. He just had to go there, didn't he? Let's go ahead and answer these rhetorical questions, even though everyone knows the answers. Yes. Our bodies are going to die and when they're buried in the ground, worms are going to munch on them. Where's the speaker going with all this? Keep reading…

Oh, we get it. Even though our bodies are going to die, the speaker believes his soul can live forever in heaven if he works on his inner spiritual life. "Terms" means a set period of time and "divine" is another word for God so, "terms divine" seems to mean for all of eternity.

We can't literally feed on death, right Shmoopers? So what does this mean? Well, the speaker seems to be saying that if he has a rich spiritual life and makes it to heaven, then he can defeat death. Basically, he's trying to turn the tables on old death here, which is usually the thing that destroys men.

Wait just a minute. How can death ever be dead and how can there ever be "no more dying"? When the speaker says that once death is defeated, there won't be any more dying, he's making an allusion to Judgment Day. According to Christian theology, that's the last day of the world, when every dead body rises up out of its grave and reunites with its soul. At that point, everybody gets judged by God and the good Christians get to spend eternity in heaven. This is supposed to be a comforting solution to human mortality, right? But, is it just us, or are you a little freaked out by the repetition of "death," "dead," and "dying"?