1 O how much more doth beauty beauteous seem,
O how much more does beauty appear beautiful, beauty looks so much more beautiful, beauty is more beautiful when The repetition of 'beauty' emphasizes that beauty itself needs enhancement; alone, it's insufficient.
2 By that sweet ornament which truth doth give!
When truth adorns it with its sweet ornament! when truth adds its lovely touch to it! truth adorns it 'Ornament' = adornment; truth functions as beauty's perfect complement, a 'sweet' (lovely) enhancement.
3 The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem
The rose looks fair, but we judge it fairer a rose looks pretty, but we think it prettier roses look fair but seem fairer
4 For that sweet odour, which doth in it live:
For that sweet scent which lives within it, because of the lovely smell it gives, for its sweet scent 'Sweet odour' is the rose's inner truth, distinct from its visual appearance; scent = interiority.
5 The canker blooms have full as deep a dye,
The canker blooms are colored just as deeply, wild roses are colored just as richly, wild roses color as deeply 'Canker blooms' = diseased or wild roses; 'dye' = color. External similarity is complete.
6 As the perfumed tincture of the roses,
As the fragrant tint of the true roses, as any perfumed rose's hue, as the perfect roses' color 'Tincture' = color, hue; linking perfume and color, suggesting they're inseparable in true beauty.
7 Hang on such thorns, and play as wantonly,
Hang on such thorns, and flutter just as freely, hang on thorns just as gracefully, on thorns, swaying freely 'Wantonly' = freely, carelessly; the canker bloom seems identical in every physical aspect.
8 When summer’s breath their masked buds discloses:
When summer's breath reveals their hidden buds, when summer heat opens their secret buds, when summer opens the buds 'Masked buds' = buds that conceal what's inside; summer's heat reveals the difference (roses have scent; canker blooms don't).
Volta The volta shifts from describing the rose and canker bloom's external similarity to arguing that virtue alone preserves beauty from worthlessness and death.
9 But for their virtue only is their show,
But by their virtue alone are they beautiful, yet only their inner worth makes them worth looking at, virtue is what matters The volta: 'virtue' is the determinant of lasting beauty. Appearance without virtue is transient.
10 They live unwooed, and unrespected fade,
They live unloved and fade in disrespect, they're unwanted and fade away scorned, they fade unwanted 'Unwooed' = not pursued/loved; 'unrespected' = not honored. Canker blooms have no inner worth to give them value.
11 Die to themselves. Sweet roses do not so,
Die leaving no trace. Sweet roses do not, disappear without a trace. True roses don't, vanish unmourned. roses do not 'Die to themselves' = pass away unnoticed, leave no trace. Roses die into memory and honor.
12 Of their sweet deaths, are sweetest odours made: The transformation of death into eternal preservation
From their sweet deaths, the sweetest scents are made, their deaths become the sweetest perfumes, their death becomes sweet perfume Death becomes transformation: the rose's virtue transforms its death into immortal perfume. Nothing is wasted.
13 And so of you, beauteous and lovely youth,
And so of you, beautiful and lovely youth, and so with you, fair and beautiful one, so with you, lovely youth
14 When that shall fade, my verse distills your truth.
When that fades, my verse distills your truth. my poetry will distill what's true in you. my verse captures your truth The couplet's promise: poetry is the alembic that distills (purifies and concentrates) the beloved's inner truth, making it immortal as fragrant oil.