Sonnet 10

Song Meaning

Rufus Wainwright's choice to set Shakespeare's "Sonnet 10" to music feels less like a simple adaptation and more like a psychic inhabitation. The sonnet, on the surface, is a plea to a beloved to embrace love, not just receive it. But Wainwright, a master of baroque pop and emotionally extravagant performance, instinctively understands the underlying currents of self-loathing and narcissistic injury that ripple beneath the surface of Shakespeare’s words. The opening lines, a gentle chiding – "For shame deny that thou bear'st love to any, / Who for thyself art so unprovident" – quickly give way to a more urgent, almost desperate appeal. The core of the song meaning resides in the internal conflict Shakespeare, and by extension Wainwright, lays bare. It's not just about loving another; it's about self-preservation. The lines "For thou art so possessed with murd'rous hate / That 'gainst thyself thou stick'st not to conspire" are a stark depiction of self-destructive tendencies. This isn't mere coyness or romantic aloofness; it's a deep-seated aversion to vulnerability, a fear of the very intimacy the speaker craves. Wainwright's musical setting likely amplifies this tension, drawing out the inherent melodrama of the text. Ultimately, "Sonnet 10" is a plea for the beloved to dismantle their defenses, to allow love to enter and heal the self-inflicted wounds. The final couplet, "Make thee another self for love of me, / That beauty still may live in thine or thee," is both a profound act of generosity and a subtle act of self-preservation. The speaker isn't just asking for love; they're offering a way out of the beloved's self-destructive spiral, a path towards a shared and enduring beauty. Wainwright, through his musical interpretation, likely highlights the psychological complexity of this exchange, revealing the raw vulnerability that lies at the heart of even the most elegantly constructed verse.