# CXLVI explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by William Shakespeare.

## What happens

The speaker addresses his own soul, lamenting its neglect of inner spiritual wealth in favor of outward, bodily adornment. He urges the soul to live off the body's loss, to invest in divine terms by selling worthless hours, so that it may feed on Death itself and achieve immortality.

## Themes in this chapter

### Time and Mortality

The poem meditates on the brevity of life ('so short a lease') and the inevitability of death and decay.

### Art and Immortality

The soul's victory over Death suggests a form of spiritual immortality achieved through renunciation of the material.

## Character check-ins

### Death

Personified as a force that feeds on men, but will itself be consumed by the soul.

### Soul

Addressed as 'Poor soul,' the center of the sinful earth, urged to prioritize spiritual over material wealth.

## Key lines

> Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth, Why feed’st these rebel powers that thee array

O wretched soul, the core of my sinful body, why do you nourish these rebellious desires that surround you?

_The speaker questions why the soul sustains the very bodily passions that oppose it._

> So shall thou feed on Death, that feeds on men, And Death once dead, there’s no more dying then.

Thus you will consume Death, which consumes humanity, and once Death is dead, there will be no further dying.

_The soul can achieve eternal life by overcoming Death itself._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_28_se/chapters/cxlvi
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_28_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_28_se/chapters