Download Sonnet 153: The Blacksmith

Jill Spiceland
Dr. Bowers
ENGL 4340
13 October 2009
The Blacksmith: Sonnet 153
Shakespeare closes his sonnet cycle with two poems that feature Cupid rather
prominently, Sonnets 153 and 154. Because poets often closed with references to Greek or
Roman mythology, closing with Cupid is not weird or unorthodox. However, through his
specific choice of words, Shakespeare creates a character for his narrator. The narrator of the
poem is a blacksmith who has fallen deeply in love with his mistress.
In the very first line, “Cupid laid by his brand,” which is an interesting choice of words.
Although the “brand” can specifically refer to the “torch of Cupid,” the more common
definitions include “act of burning,” “mark of ownership,” and “iron rod used for branding.” In
addition to the images of branded animals and iron brands, the word can also refer to a blade.
Rather than using an equally descriptive and perhaps more suitable word like “torch,”
Shakespeare chooses a word that invokes metallic images. Similarly, in the second line, the word
“Dian” can refer to the goddess Diana, but it can also mean “silver,” and the word “found”
contextually means “discovered,” but the word itself can also refer to “the process of founding
(metal, materials for glass).” Within two lines, Shakespeare chooses three words to refer to metal
or metalworking, as well as their contextual meanings.
In the third and fourth lines, Shakespeare uses four more metallic words: “kindling,”
“fire,” “steep,” and “cold.” The surface meaning is that the maid of Dian uses a spring to douse
Cupid’s flame, but the choice of words leads again to metallurgy. The phrase “love-kindling fire”
(l. 3) invokes images of strong love in one hand, and images of stoking fires with the other. To
“steep” means to douse in water, and is something that blacksmiths do to cool their work. In the
fourth line, “cold” may just refer to the temperature of the water, or it may reference the many
“cold forging” procedures that a blacksmith would be familiar with.
Lines five and six mention a “holy fire of love” and a “heat, still to endure.” The first
reference paints the “holy fire” like something a blacksmith would use; the fire is smoldering,
hot, and can be “borrow’d from,” much like a blacksmith would remove hot coals or hot irons
from their forge to work other pieces of metal. The still-enduring heat is also reminiscent of a
forge, and of course the idea of endurance is something a blacksmith would be well versed in.
Lines seven and eight continue the trend, talking about a “seething bath, which yet men
prove / […] a sovereign cure” (ll. 7-8). The word “seething” means “boiling,” and often refers to
“intensely heated solids.” The word “prove” would contextually mean “to try or test,” but
another definition for the word is “a gold coin.” Further, the related word “proof” can refer to
any early casting of a coin or other metal implement. In the next line, “sovereign” likely means
“supreme” or “ultimate” in context, but in a more obscure definition, the word means “gold
coin.” “Cure” is another word that refers to craftsmanship, although not blacksmithing
specifically: tanners cure hide.
In lines nine and ten, the narrator talks about his “mistress’ eye” and “Love’s brand newfired,” as well as mentioning a “breast.” In this section, “eye” means literally his mistress’s
“ocular organs,” but an “eye” can also refer to the center of something, as in the eye of a storm
or the eye of a fire. “Love’s brand” comes into play again, and although the word “Cupid” has
been swapped for the personified “Love,” the word “brand” is the same, which reinforces the
metallic theme. Also, “fired” is a smith’s term, referring to the forge and using it to harden and
temper metals. And finally, the term “breast” can refer to piece of chest armor that a blacksmith
would frequently make.
Coming to the next portion of the poem, lines eleven and twelve have the words “bath”
and “distempered.” As it did earlier in the poem, “bath” can refer to the water a blacksmith
douses his hot metals in. “Distempered” does not directly refer to smiths, but “temper” is a way
of heating and re-heating material such that it gains incredible hardness. Finally, the last two
lines of the poem repeat the words “found,” “cure,” “bath,” “fire,” and “eyes.” All of these are
significant to blacksmithing or metallurgy in some way, and their repetition seems to reinforce
the concept.
Throughout the poem, Shakespeare not only creates a specific image and story, but he
uses specific word choices to create a character for the narrator. Although the poem is about
Cupid and the narrator’s mistress, the choice of words related to blacksmithing, metals, and
metallurgy makes the narrator into a specific person. He is no longer just the wooer, but a
character of his own right.
Works Cited
“Bath.” The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. Online.
“Brand.” The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. Online.
“Breast.” The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. Online.
“Cold.” The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. Online.
“Dian.” The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. Online.
“Distemper.” The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. Online.
“Endure.” The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. Online.
“Eye.” The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. Online.
“Found.” The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. Online.
“Fire.” The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. Online.
“Kindling.” The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. Online.
“Prove.” The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. Online.
“Seething.” The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. Online.
“Sovereign.” The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. Online.
“Steep.” The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. Online.
“Temper.” The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. 1989. Online.
Shakespeare, William. “Sonnet 153.” <http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/153.html>