1 How can I then return in happy plight
How can I then return to a state of happiness How can I possibly be happy how can i be okay 'Plight' = state, condition. The opening question establishes the problem: the speaker is trapped in unhappiness.
2 That am debarred the benefit of rest?
When I am denied the healing power of rest? when I'm shut out from getting any sleep? when rest won't help 'Debarred' = shut out, denied; 'benefit of rest' = the restorative power of sleep.
3 When day’s oppression is not eased by night,
When the oppression of the day brings no relief at night, when nighttime doesn't ease the burden of the day, night doesn't help 'Oppression' = burden, heavy pressure; personification of day as a tyrant.
4 But day by night and night by day oppressed. The paradox that defines the sonnet: day and night, natural opposites, both deliver the same oppression.
Instead both day and night torture me equally, Instead they both make me suffer equally, both destroy me A paradox: day and night, which should be opposites, both cause oppression. Neither offers escape.
Wordplay
- oppressed = crushed, tyrannized
- the inversion of syntax ('day by night / night by day') mirrors the inversion of the natural order
- the paradox: neither day nor night is actually oppressed by the other; rather, both are infected with the speaker's absence-sickness
5 And each (though enemies to either’s reign)
And each one, though they are enemies of each other's rule, And even though day and night are enemies, though they're normally enemies 'Enemies to either's reign' = hostile to each other's dominion; but enemies can unite against a common foe.
6 Do in consent shake hands to torture me, Time itself becomes a conspiracy: the two halves of the day shake hands against the speaker.
Join in agreement and conspire to torture me, team up to torture me, they're partners in my pain 'In consent' = in agreement; 'shake hands' = make an alliance. Day and night are co-conspirators.
7 The one by toil, the other to complain
One through exhausting labor, the other through making me lament, One through hard work, the other through heartache, day tires me, night breaks me 'Toil' = hard work, labor; 'complain' = lament, express sorrow.
8 How far I toil, still farther off from thee.
How the more I labor, the farther I am from you, the harder I work, the more distant you become, you slip further away The beloved is absent and distance grows with every moment of labor. Toil increases both physical and emotional distance.
Volta The shift from passive suffering to attempted remedy: the speaker tries to win over both day and night by flattering them with praise of the beloved, claiming he'll make them better by his verses.
9 I tell the day to please him thou art bright,
I tell the day that you are brilliant, to win it over, I flatter the day by telling it you're bright, i praise you to day The volta: the speaker attempts a remedy by flattering both day and night with praise of the beloved.
Wordplay
- tell = speak to, address (personification of day as listener)
- bright = luminous, but also morally radiant, excellent
- the flattery is not calculated seduction but desperate appeasement—the speaker is trying to negotiate with time itself
10 And dost him grace when clouds do blot the heaven:
And you add beauty even when clouds darken the sky, you outshine even the clouds, you're brighter than the sun 'Grace' = beauty, ornament; the beloved outshines even the clouds that blot the sun.
11 So flatter I the swart-complexioned night,
So I flatter the dark-complexioned night, And I flatter dark night the same way, i praise the dark too 'Swart' = dark, swarthy; the night is dark-skinned, but the beloved makes it luminous.
12 When sparkling stars twire not thou gild’st the even.
When the stars don't twinkle, you gild the evening with light, you shine gold in the evening even when stars don't, you light the dark 'Twire' = twinkle, peer out (archaic); 'gild'st' = turn to gold, illuminate. The beloved outshines the stars.
13 But day doth daily draw my sorrows longer, The volta's reversal: poetry cannot cure absence; it only makes the pain longer and stronger.
But day only extends my sorrows further, But my flattery doesn't work—every day my sorrow just gets worse, day makes it worse 'Draw...longer' = extend, prolong. The attempted flattery fails; time only increases pain.
14 And night doth nightly make grief’s length seem stronger
And night makes the length of my grief feel unbearable. and night makes my grief feel so much heavier. night makes it all worse The couplet reveals that poetry cannot cure the pain of absence. Both day and night intensify grief rather than ease it.