Nicole's+Poem+Analysis

Lines 1-4:
===In these few lines the double meaning of lies being unfaithful or speaking not of the truth both come into play. For when he says “I do believe her, though I know she lies” he is saying that although he knows she is lying to him he decides to pretend she is instead telling him the truth. Also the homonym of made/maid is strongly suggested. The narrator is aware that his love is not a "maid of truth." Still he prefers to accept her affirmations of love even though deep down inside he knows she is not telling him the truth. When he says “she might think me some untutor'd youth, Unlearned in the world's false subtleties.” He knows that he is not a young man uneducated in the dishonesties that are part of everyday life even though that is what she may think.=== ===In everyday life, most people want to know when their partners are being unfaithful so they can give their companions a chance to explain themselves for their infidelity. However, when some know that their partners are being unfaithful they decide to act as if they don’t know about their partner’s infidelity and just carry on as if nothing has happened.===

Lines 5-8:
==="Vainly" has multiple meanings. In Shakespeare's time it meant foolishly. Therefore when he says Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young, Although she knows my days are past the best,” He is saying that foolishly she thinks I am a young man when in her heart she knows I am an older gentleman. “Simply I credit her false-speaking tongue:On both sides thus is simple truth supprest”, this means that both of the lovers not only lie to (and with) each other but the man, at least, lies to himself. He realizes that his performance in the bedroom betrays his age. He is clearly older than his lover but not so old that he could not pass for someone younger than himself.=== ===Again in life some say that they wish to know all of the truth about their lovers yet, some when they know the truth decide to pretend as if they didn’t. The narrator also relates himself to a different category of deception which is that of lying to one’s self. Every day we tell ourselves lies like,” I’ll start my diet tomorrow” or “it’s ok if I turn in my midterm paper late”. We tell ourselves these lies to ourselves everyday thinking that it harms no one but ourselves when in reality lying to ourselves can cause as much damage as lying to others can.===

Lines 9-12:
===“But wherefore says she not she is unjust?” "Unjust" in this usage means unfaithful. This rhetorical question in modern day words is "Why does she not admit to having other lovers?" The answer is that he does not want to hear it, though at a deeper level he knows the truth. His second question in the verse,”And wherefore say not I that I am old?” asks why he isn't honest about his age. In a more open, honest, and mature relationship there would be acceptance and free admission of faults. However, the speaker instead chooses for self-delusion even though he knows what he is doing. Love's "habit" punningly refers to a garment of concealment along with the main meaning of a familiarized practice. "Seeming" has its primary meaning of "apparent," but also suggests an appearance which is deceptive as opposed to real or genuine. "Told" means both "openly stated" and "counted." Therefore when he states,” And age in love loves not to have years told” he is saying that your age when in love, loves not to be stated.=== ===In relationships we ask ourselves rhetorical questions about our partners in both defensive and accusing ways. When we ask ourselves these questions we are setting ourselves up for biased answers, so that we only hear what we want to hear, which is not always the truth. This is exactly what he does in the ninth and tenth lines of the sonnet. In the eleventh and twelfth lines he talks about how when you’re in love with someone who is younger or older than you, you usually don’t like your difference in age to be public information. Although not sharing information is not quite the same as lying is it does make things misleading: which is often confused with lying.===

Lines 13-14:
===With the closing two lines comes a sense of completion by returning to the pun on "lie" stated in the opening verse. The two lovers continue on with their rendezvous because habits are hard to break and they feel that it is better to enjoy the good part of their relationship then dwell on the knowledge that the woman's oath of faithfulness is false and the fact that the speaker is "over the hill."=== ===I think that these last two lines represent lying in its aftermath for in these concluding two lines you see that even though they both know that they are lying to each other they decide that what they have is more important than the lies they tell themselves and the lies to each other. Every day hundreds of couples divorce because of lies told and I can’t help but wonder if those couples tried to put aside their lies like this couple did would their marriages actually work or are these lies really that unforgivable?===