# Sonnet LXXXVI explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by William Shakespeare.

## What happens

The poet questions whether a rival poet's superior verse or supernatural aid silenced him, ultimately concluding that it was the beloved's favor toward the rival that left him without inspiration.

## Themes in this chapter

### Truth and Deception

The poet questions whether the rival's verse is aided by deceptive spirits, contrasting true inspiration with false art.

### Art and Immortality

The rival's 'great verse' aims for immortal prize, but the poet's own creative power is undermined by the beloved's favor.

## Character check-ins

### William Shakespeare

The speaker, reflecting on his creative paralysis and rivalry.

### Muse

Implied as the source of inspiration that the poet feels he has lost.

## Key lines

> Was it the proud full sail of his great verse, Bound for the prize of all too precious you, That did my ripe thoughts in my brain inhearse, Making their tomb the womb wherein they grew?

Was it the confident, expansive poetry of my rival, aimed at winning you, that buried my mature ideas in my mind, turning the place where they were born into their grave?

_The poet imagines his rival's verse as a ship sailing to capture the beloved, causing his own thoughts to die before birth._

> But when your countenance fill’d up his line, Then lack’d I matter; that enfeebled mine.

But when your favor filled his verse, I lost my subject matter, and that weakened my own poetry.

_The poet admits that the beloved's approval of the rival is what truly silenced him, not any supernatural aid._

## Links

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