Sonnet 7/VII "Lo, in the Orient"

Lo, in the Orient when the gracious light
Lifts up his burning head, each under eye
Doth homage to his new appearing sight,
Serving with looks his sacred majesty.
And having climb'd the steep up heavenly hill,
Resembling strong youth in his middle age,
Yet mortal looks adore his beauty still,
Attending on his golden pilgrimage.
But when from high-most pitch, with weary car,
Like feeble age he reeleth from the day,
The eyes (fore dutious) now converted are
From his low tract and look another way,
So thou, thy self out going in thy noon,
Unloodk'd on diest unless thou get a son.


Quatrain 1

1 Lo, in / the O/rient // when / the gra/cious light >
2 Lifts up / his bur/ning head, // each un/ der eye >
3 Doth ho/mage to / his new / appea/ring sight,
4 Serving / with looks / his sac/red ma/jesty.

Quatrain 2

5 And ha/ving climb'd / the steep / up hea/v'nly hill,
6 Resem/bling strong / youth in / his mid/dle age,
7 Yet mor/tal looks / adore / his beau/ty still,
8 Atten/ding on / his gol/den pil/grimage.

Quatrain 3

9 But when / from high-/most pitch, / with wea/ry car,
10 Like fee/ble age / he ree/leth from / the day,
11 The eyes / (fore du/tious) now / conver/ted are >
12 From his / low tract / and look / ano/ther way.

Couplet

13 So thou, / thy self / out go/ing in / thy noon,
14 Unloodk'd / on diest // unless / thou get / a son.


Q1-3 provide one side of an extended simile; the C, the other side.

7.1-12

Most commentaries point out that this resembles Ovid's Metamorphoses, 15.184-227 (Golding, 202-249); E is surprisingly alone is pointing to comparable moments in Romeo and Juliet, in 2.2, for example: "But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? / It is the east, and Juliet is the sun" (2-3).

Since there is no "as," one does not even know until the C, though one might suspect earlier, that this is a simile. "Orient" is periphrastic for the eastern direction from which the sun, never named until punned upon in 7.14, rises. This sun is clearly personified as a regal presence whose "sacred majesty" awes "each under eye" ("under" is an adverb, here used as an adjective) of his subjects. Metrically, the interest is in the three opening trochees, the dawn's reversal of light from darkness sonically emphasized in the first two--"Lo in" and "Lifts up"; in the third, "Serving," the subjects' reversal from predawn non-attendance to dawn worship. A says that there is no caesura after the first two feet of 7.1, but I believe there is, especially if one wants to pause before the coming enjambment. (Notice that enjambment encourages caesuras.)

Q2 represents the next stage of the "diurnal" progress as the sun rises. A argues for a spondee in the third foot of 7.5, slowing the line to indicate the difficulty of the up-hill climb as the "strong youth" shines in his "middle age"--not, as commentators are quick to note, connoting decline, but vigor. It's clear that the participial phrases--"having climb'd" and "resembling"--do not refer to the subject of the clause--"mortal looks"--so WS is guilty of the dreaded dangling modifier that English teachers love to hate, as is made clear with the terminal one--"Attending"--which does refer to those looks.

The sonnet's volta, "But," begins the daily, tragic ritual of a reversal of Apollo's car. I'm not sure why commentators miss the Ovidian intertext (the Phaethon tale in Book 2), but remembering the tragic course of Apollo adds a significant dimension to the mundane tract of the sun's glory: Not all rises and falls of glory are the same; after all, some leave brightness behind and some don't, as the S is trying to point out to the FY.

7.13-14

With the coordinate conjunction "So," we realize that we have been in an extended simile for the FY's deliberation, a simile which becomes vivid in the pun--"son/sun," get it? We have lost the love of puns that characterizes WS and his culture--by the eighteenth century, Samuel Johnson was already teasing him about it--but CB makes a fine point about this one: "The word 'sun' is not used in this poem; the pressure to name the gracious light is only released by the pun on 'son.'"

W has some nasty things to say about V's admittedly far-fetched reading of the poem and her dismissal of its quality, but it isn't one of the better ones. Even so, I find the image of eyes converted to "look another way" from the tragedy of beauty's loss is moving in the way one is moved by Lear's loss of retainers with his fall.