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14
SONNET XIV

ASTRONOMY – ALL THE BODIES IN THE SKY

ASTROLOGY – IT IS ABOUT TELLING THE FUTURE
BASED ON STAR POSITION

Not from the stars do I my judgement pluck; not from the stars i take my knowledge
(isminti)
And yet methinks I have Astronomy, and yet i think i am a good astrologer

Ir as vistiek manau, kad esu geras astrologas

But not to tell of good or evil luck, but not as astrologers tell about a good or bad luck

Bet ne kaip astrologai sako/speja ateiti apie sekme ar nesekme

Of plagues (Pleigs) , of dearths or seasons' quality; of plagues, famines or of good or bad

harvests

Maro, , bado ar blogo ar gero derliaus

Nor can I fortune to brief minutes tell, nor can I tell a fortune of a person
Nei as galiu numatyti likima minutes tikslumu

Pointing to each his thunder, rain and wind, telling him about danger or hard times
besdamas zmogui apie griaustini, lietu ar veja
Or say with princes if it shall go well or for powerful patrons to read fortune
Ar galingiems mecenatams skaityti ateiti

By oft (othen) predict that I in heaven find: by making predictions based on what i see in
heaven
Su daznais numatymais kuriuos as matau danguje

But from thine eyes my knowledge I derive, i get my knowledge from your eyes
And, constant stars, in them I read such art and in constand stars i make predictions
As truth and beauty shall together thrive, truth and beauty will together thrive

If from thyself, to store thou (thou) wouldst convert; if you turn your attention away from
yourself and concentrate on marrying and having children

Or else of thee this I prognosticate: or else i make this prediction

Arba kitaip/kitokiu atveju tau as prognozuoju

Thy end is truth's and beauty's doom and date. With your death comes the death of
beauty and truth
Su gyvenimo pabaiga ateina grozio prazutis

This sonnet introduces a variant of the procreation theme, tying it in with predictions of the
future made, not through astrology (Astronomy), as would normally be expected, but
through taking the youth's eyes as stars in the heavens which foretell the future.

The comparison of stars with eyes is traditional love lore in which the beloved assumes the
qualities of everything that is angelic and heavenly. Drayton, Sydney and other
contemporary poets made use of it. (See the example from Sidney at the bottom of this
page). Shakespeare implies here that the foreknowledge he has from the 'stars' of the
youth's eyes surpasses that derived from traditional astrology. He asserts that truth and
beauty are doomed forever unless the young man chooses to perpetuate his line by
having children.

THE 1609 QUARTO VERSION

NOt from the ſtars do I my iudgement plucke,
And yet me thinkes I haue Aſtronomy,
But not to tell of good,or euil lucke,
Of plagues,of dearths,or ſeaſons quallity,
Nor can I fortune to breefe mynuits tell);
Pointing to each his thunder, raine and winde,
Or ſay with Princes if it ſhal go wel
By oft predict that I in heauen finde.
But from thine eies my knowledge I deriue,
And conſtant ſtars in them I read ſuch art
As truth and beautie ſhal together thriue
If from thy ſelfe,to ſtore thou wouldſt conuert:
   Or elſe of thee this I prognoſticate,
   Thy end is Truthes and Beauties doome and date.

COMMENTARY
1. Not from the stars do I my judgement pluck;
judgement = judgement or knowledge of the future;
pluck = obtain, seize (gauti, paimti). It does have a suggestion of reaching upwards,
as in plucking an apple from the sky, and perhaps suggests the upward reaching
hand of an astrologer bringing down knowledge from the stars. Possibly also a
belittling (sumenkinimas) sense, in that astrologers were notorious (pagarsejes) for
plucking predictions from the bizarrest concatenations of planetary movements.
(keisčiausios planetų judėjimo sankaupos)
2. And yet methinks I have Astronomy,
methinks = I think;
Astronomy in Elizabethan times was much closer to what we would nowadays term
astrology. It was not yet weighted down with knowledge of what the planets and
stars actually are, as modern day astronomy is. There was a widespread belief that
the stars, in their various conjunctions, had an important and direct influence on the
life of humans, both on individuals, and on social institutions. See the sonnet by
Sidney, given at the bottom of the page. He calls those who consider the stars to
shine merely to spangle (spinduoliuoti) the night 'dusty wits', for to him their
importance was much greater. They were an importance influence in human lives.
Although his sonnet, like this one, by its conclusion is somewhat tongue in cheek
(ironiškai, atvirai ar nenuoširdžiai). (Note that Sidney uses the term astrology. He
also reads Stellas's eyes as if they were stars). The poet here claims to 'have
Astronomy', i.e he understands it as a science, and then he proceeds to tell us how
his knowledge differs from that of the traditional astrologer (lines 3-8).
We tend to think of ourselves as a more rational age, but a recent president of the
United States, Ronald Reagan, relied on his wife's astrologer to forecast for him
propitious days for work and policy decisions.
3. But not to tell of good or evil luck,
As astrologers would do. More or less the same as fortune telling is today.
4. Of plagues, of dearths, or seasons' quality;
Almanacs would foretell such things.
plagues - this had contemporary relevance, as bubonic plague attacked the city of
London many times in Shakespeare's life, necessitating the closure of theatres and
the removal of the royal court to a safer district. Anyone who had sufficient means
 would leave the city for the country at such times. 1593 and 1594 were particularly
bad years in London.
dearths = famines, shortages (badas, trukumas). Not infrequent in those days;
seasons' quality = the character of the various seasons, whether they would
produce crops or not.
quality = character, nature, essence, capability. Cf. Hamlet:
Come, give us a taste of your quality. II.ii.440.
5. Nor can I fortune to brief minutes tell,
to brief minutes tell = predict with minute by minute accuracy.
6. Pointing to each his thunder, rain and wind,
Pointing to each = appointing (or pointing out) for each person; thunder, rain and
wind these are taken as being symbolic of bad times in a person's life. See the
previous sonnet, where the stormy gusts of winter's day are tokens of bad fortune in
the shape of malaise befalling a lineage which cannot renew itself. Some
commentaters have made heavy work of this line, referring each and his back
to seasons in line 4, or minutes in line 5, but I believe the above interpretation is
neater.
7. Or say with princes if it shall go well
Astrologers and fortune tellers regarded it as an important part of their work to
predict the fate of kingdoms. Critical dates in Elizabeth's reign were 1588, which
was connected to some biblical interpretation of the Babylonian captivity, and 1596
and 1603, which were her climacteric years. Many dire (baisus) predictions were
made for all those dates. Moore's almanac is still printed annually (kasmet), but
mostly nowadays it is filled with fairly vacuous (beprasmiskas) predictions.
8. By oft predict that I in heaven find:
By oft predict = by frequent predictions. Presumably (tikriausiai) deduced
(isvedziota) from conjunctions of the stars. oft as an adjective and predict as a noun
are virtually unknown other than in this sonnet. KDJ accepts an emendation
to aught. (pataisymas iki nieko)
9. But from thine eyes my knowledge I derive,
This gives the reason why he does not rely on conventional astrology. His beloved's
eyes are stars, from which he foretells the world's future. Compare Sidney's poem
below.
10. And, constant stars, in them I read such art
constant stars - the fixed stars were considered to be constant and reliable, in
contrast to the wandering stars, or planets. The idea persisted, cf. Keats: Bright
star, would I were steadfast as though art. (Sonnet, circa 1820). The beloved's eyes
are praised as being constant, unchanging stars, superior perhaps to the mutable
stars in the skies upon which the astrologers relied.
I read such art = I derive such skill (art). When taken with the following line it
expands to 'I derive such skill that it enables me to deduce (padaryti isvada) that
etc.'
11. As truth and beauty shall together thrive,
As = that. See note to previous line. truth and beauty - truth could be taken as the
inner quality, beauty as the external one. They were probably the chief ideals of
Neo-Platonic philosophy, the moral and spiritual qualities to which all beings strived.
12. If from thyself, to store thou wouldst convert;

If you would devote some attention (skirti siek tiek demesio) to the question of
procreation (dauginimasis). store = increase, preservation; selection and
 reproduction of the best of a species. See the note to Sonnet 11:
Let those whom Nature hath not made for store,

convert = turn to, give your attention to. Also with the implication of turning away
from (thy)self, being less self-centred. Compare:

And that fresh blood which youngly thou bestowest

Thou mayst call thine when thou from youth convertest.11

13. Or else of thee this I prognosticate:

Or else I foretell this result for you.
prognosticate = forecast future events. The poet takes a leaf from the astrologer's
book and makes his own prediction.
14. Thy end is truth's and beauty's doom and date.
The alternative to 11 & 12 above. Truth and beauty will not survive the youth's own
death, if he has not created children before then.
doom = death, destruction, fate.
date = final end, terminal date.

The speaker in this work acknowledges the fact that he is unable to predict the future. The
stars tell him nothing of what's to come, for the world or for individuals. But he does know
one thing for sure. That if the Fair Youth does not have a child then his beauty of him is
going to disappear from the world entirely.