When my love swears that she is made of truth
I do believe her, though I know she lies,
That she might think me some untutor'd youth,
Unlearned in the world's false subtleties.
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,
Although she knows my days are past the best,
Simply I credit her false-speaking tongue:
On both sides thus is simple truth suppress'd.
But wherefore says she not she is unjust?
And wherefore say not I that I am old?
O, love's best habit is in seeming trust,
And age in love loves not to have years told:
Therefore I lie with her and she with me,
And in our faults by lies we flatter'd be.
The speaker in Sonnet 138 confesses to a less than perfect relationship based on lies and deceit of which each partner is aware, yet they continue to flatter each other.
Brief paraphrase:
First Quatrain – “When my love swears that she is made of truth”
The speaker in Shakespeare’s Sonnet 138 makes the odd confession that when his lady love tells him that she is truthful, he supposedly believes her, even though he knows she is lying. Of course, he means that he pretends to believe her, but in fact he knows he cannot believe her, because he knows she is lying.
But he has some lying going on as well. He wants to make her think he is unsophisticated like a young man. So he pretends to believe her lies, in order to get her to believe his pretense at being younger than he is.
Second Quatrain – “Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young”
In the second quatrain, the speaker sums up the lying and falsifying on both parts: he knows that she knows he is not a young man in his prime, so he admits that his pretense is in vain. She does not really believe he is young, anymore than he believes she is a faithful lover. They both simply suppress the truth for the sake of their silly game.
Third Quatrain – “But wherefore says she not she is unjust”
In the third quatrain, the speaker rationalizes their deceptions and makes the ludicrous claim that “love’s best habit is in seeming trust.” The speaker knows better than this; he is a mature man who surely must realize that such “trust” is not trust at all. These lovers cannot possibly trust each other: they each know the other is lying.
Couplet - “Therefore I lie with her and she with me”
The couplet offers little by way of assuaging the situation; it merely reveals that the relationship is based on a sexual relationship: “I lie with her and she with me.” The speaker is playing on the word “lie”; he has made it clear that both lovers “lie” to each other, so now when he says they lie “with” each other, he is referring to their sexual relationship: lying in bed together.
They are flattered by this arrangement, and flattery is not the basis of a serious relationship, but the speaker confesses that that is the kind of relationship they have. So what can they do?
*Your question about these stylistic aspects:
1. Diction:
Shakespeare’s brilliant approach that establishes a close tie between the reader and his poem through the use of images and structure that sets up certain boundaries of poem, various sound effects that provides exuberance, and diction that provokes a multi-faceted perspective is exceptionally successful in Sonnet 138 and it as well achieves the writer’s purpose of strengthening the connection with the reader.
2. Imagery: Unlearned in the world's false subtleties. (Ignorant of all the deceit that exists in the world)
- she is made of truth (she is faithful)
3. Symbols: false subtleties (deceit)
4. figures of speech:
Metaphors -
she is made of truth
the world's false subtleties
false speaking tongue
habit is in seeming trust
5.syntax and structure: [Line 13]* Notice the double meaning of 'lie'. The line can also be interpreted as "That is why I sleep with her and she with me."
6.rhythm and meter: Regular like in all Shakespeare's sonnets
7.significance of the title: no great significance since all are cited by first line. Hence title says little. But we know, the poem is talks about the Dark Lady of the sonnets.
8.purpose and tone:
poet candidly reveals both the nature of his relationship with the dark lady and the insecurities he has about growing older. Unlike his intense affair with his other lover -- who is the subject of the earlier sonnets and likely the real-life Earl of Southampton -- the poet's affair with his mistress is (for now) uncomplicated and practical; it fulfills his most basic needs of both sexual pleasure and continual reassurance that he is still worthy of love despite his age.
The Sonnets as a whole show us that Time was Shakespeare's great nemesis and, although the dominant theme in Sonnet 138 is the comfort that lies bring to an insecure mind, a discourse on the ravages of time is once again present.
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