William Shakespeare’s – Sonnet 18 (Analysis)

In William Shakespeare’s most loved (S.18) Henry VVriothesley (the faire youth) is seen more perfect even than an English summers day – never to be eclipsed by time or death – and yet while summer will shortly expire by the hand of our great poet the ‘faire youth’ will live eternally. This pleasant synopsis comes with a caveat, because if you require a deeper and more meaningful understanding of this celebrated work, it is necessary to understand it in terms of mathematics and gematria, while I implore you to realise these systems in no way devalue it – they only enhance it, I would also like to add to this introduction how important the following Christian numbers were to our author: III, IX, XIX, & XXXIII  (‘IX’ being Christs initials in Greek & ‘Tau’ letter XIX of the Greek alphabet). Observing the main corpus of ‘Q’ (the Quarto) in lines one, four & nine, “Summers”, “Sommers” & “Sommer” are all spelt differently but capitalised, and there is a simple reasoning for this, in that our author wishes to point us in the direction of two further sonnets (S.54) & (S.33) involving some maths we shall come to – while in line ‘7’ we note that for what seems some inexplicable reason – the word “some-time” is hyphenated, but with Shakespeare there is reason for everything.

The narrative of Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare is determined because he sees ‘18’ synonymously with the letter ‘S’ which in his mind equates with “Southampton”, as Henry VVriothesley was the 3rd Earl of Southampton, while we observe fifteen words in the sonnet beginning with the letter ‘S’, part of the reason it hisssis alliteratively.

The word “Rose” is a marsupial of the surname “VVriothesley”, while letter ‘18’ of the Elizabethan alphabet is ‘S’, simple gematria tells us this – a system our author was heavily invested in – seeing a numerical value in every letter:

A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, D = 4, E for Elizabeth = ‘5’.

Now, when our author wishes to verify something he considers of extreme importance to him, he repeats it three times, I call this ‘Sacred 3’, an obvious example of this, is of course letter ‘S’ for “Summers” a word appearing capitalised three times in the main body of the sonnet – therefore it can be seen how the letter ‘S’ presents us the following sum:

3 x 18 = 54.

We then find in (S.54) a posy within a poesy – because representing ‘Sacred 3’ in ‘Q’ the word ‘Rose’ (on every occasion capitalised) appears three times.    This of course, is a sonnet about a “Rose” but not just any-old “Rose” it is a sonnet about our author’s favourite “Rose” (Henry VVriothesley) whose relationship to him we find spelled out (as if he and we were children) in line ‘IX’ of (S.33) a sonnet also surreptitiously alluded to in (S.18).

“Even so my sunne ‘One’ early morn did shine”.

The first English-language writing manual by Jehan de Beau-Chesne and John Baildon wasn’t published until 1570, officially it had only 23 letters, excluding the three modern day letters ‘J’, ‘U’ & ‘W’. The following is a transcription of this gematrical code formed in conjunction with the Elizabethan alphabet (which is fundamentally the same as the classical Latin alphabet).

A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, D = 4, E = 5, F = 6, G = 7, H = 8, I = 9, K = 10, L = 11, M = 12, N = 13, O = 14, P = 15, Q = 16, R = 17, S = 18, T = 19, V = 20, X = 21, Y = 22, Z = 23.

To fully understand the meaning of (S.18) it is necessary to understand what the word “faire” (which appears three times in the sonnet) meant to our great author who attached a sense of divinity to the word. To this end it is helpful to look at the very first page (the dedication page) of William Shakespeare’s first officially published poem of 1593 “Venus & Adonis” where one letter stands proud and large predominating all others, the letter “R”, this is also the first letter found capitalised & italicised in the main body of (S.1).

From fairest creatures we desire increase
That thereby beauties Rose might never die,
But as the riper should by time decease
His tender heire might beare his memory.

Our author refers to his beloved son as “his tender heire” cleverly incorporating in the line the word ‘beare” thereby amusing himself by alluding to his own birth as Ptolemy listed the constellation of ‘The Great Bear’ as one of the original ’48’ constellations – and as Oxford’s TRUE day-of-creation was 14 July 1548 he sneakily references it. More importantly, what he says and what he thinks psychologically are not the same thing, although he writes “his tender heire might beare his memory”, heart and soul he really believes his son ‘first-heire’ to the throne of England, and this is what is more correctly alluded to in line four. 

Talking gematria ‘R’ = 17 which is how our author perceived the letter in the word “faire”, while translating the word gematrically the following way:

F & A = ‘7’, I = ‘IX’, R = 17 & E = 5.

E = ‘5’ for Elizabeth born Sept ‘7’ 1533 (‘G’ is letter ‘7’ of the alphabet the number uniting us with God) while the Queen wasn’t the only Royal to think herself very Godly – our author also thought about himself this way – particularly liking to be associated with the Christian number ‘IX’ knowing Jesus Christs initials in Greek (iota & chi) to be the Lords initials, his name in Greek Greek: Ιησούς Χριστός.

Of course “beauties Rose” in (S.1) refers to Elizabeth’s Tudor-Rose dynasty, with the word “beauty” being our author’s favourite allusion for Elizabeth – followed secondly by the word “nature”. 

A sense of ‘Princeliness’ or ‘Godliness’ imbued in the word “faire” which possessed a biological aura for him, is a realistic way of understanding how our author perceived this graceful word regarded by him in a reverential manner.

In a biological sense (alluding to Princes) we find “faire” placed twice in line ‘7’ along with the word “every” which had a special hereditary meaning for him. Also found in this same line is William Shakespeare’s S*O*M*E acronym, isolated by a hyphen from the word “time” proving it also to have a special meaning as we see the word fully conjoined begins line ‘5’.

Sometime too hot the eye of Heaven shines.

I would like to stress at this point how the faire numbers ‘5’ for Elizabeth and ‘7’ representing her creation which appear ubiquitously across the cannon allude to the Queen. An obvious example of this exists in respect of her demise which our great author deliberately mentions in (S.107) line ‘5’.

The mortal moon hath her eclipse endured.

This knowledge creates a question which cannot be definitively answered in regard to line ‘5’. Is it a sexual metaphor appertaining to the Queen?

Having said that, all Princes illegitimate or not certainly regarded themselves as being divinely ordained in Heaven.

One of the historical responsibilities of the ‘Lord Great Chamberlain of England’ from the year 1133 as an “Every” was duty of supplying water for the monarch to drink and water for ablutions, washing the monarch’s hands before and after feasting, while a fact worth noting is our author deliberately inserted this word in the central line of his sonnet sequence:

That ‘every’ word doth almost tell my name.

This hereditary de Vere privilege is also alluded to in (S.109).

So that myself bring water for my stain.

At the coronation of ‘King James 1’ in 1603 this ceremonial duty was carried out by Edward de Vere 17th Earl of Oxford – a stately obligation alluded to at the conclusion of (S.114) where he impishly suggests he wouldn’t be too bothered if the Scottish King’s cup was accidentally poisoned!!!

The critical point our patriotic author makes, against all odds, is in spite of the Scottish ‘invasion’ his Tudor-soul still considered his son “first heire” to the English throne – and the succession should not come to the nine year old Scottish Prince ‘Henry Frederick Stuart’.

And to his palate doth prepare the cup
If it be poisoned, tis the lesser sin
That mine eye loves it and doth ‘first’ begin.

Lines 7 & 8 of (S.18) represent the nitty-gritty of the sonnet and if understood the way I perceive them are extraordinarily revealing.

And every faire from faire some-time declines,
By chance, or natures changing course untrim’d.

In the second line we find Elizabeth’s motto ‘Semper Eadem’ (ever the same) in tatters, her sails “untrim’d”, our author reflecting upon “natures” notorious indecision, while for obvious reasons I assume the words “every faire” relate to ‘Oxford’ whose mother (represented by the second “faire”) is immediately followed by William Shakespeare’s “S*O*M*E” acronym isolated from the word “time” by a hyphen. In the next line “C*H*A*N*C*E” which equates gematrically to ‘33’ alludes to Oxford & Elizabeth’s incestuous issue, ‘3rd Earl of Southampton Henry VVriothesley’ – a fact confirmed by William Shakespeare’s S*O*M*E acronym which has the following familia meaning:

Southampton and Oxford’s Mother was Elizabeth.

Confirmation of this hitherto misunderstood acronym is found in the first stanza of the aristocratic (S.91) where our great author (alluding to his mother) enlightens us by using ‘7’ iterations of the S*O*M*E acronym.

Some glory in their birth, some in their skill
Some in their wealth, some in their bodies force,
Some in their garments though new-fangled ill
Some in their Hawkes and Hounds, some in their Horse.

The first stanza of (S.18) is composed of ‘33’ words while gematrically speaking the word C*H*A*N*C*E alluding to Southampton (found in line eight) equally equates to ‘33’, then by counting the number of words beginning with the letter ‘S’ for ‘Southampton’ in the sonnet – which amount to 15, and adding those to the sonnet number we arrive at the sum 15 + 18 = ‘33’, the age Christ was believed to have been at crucifixion – knowledge by which we understand (S.33) to be a sacred sonnet. These three number 33’s represent ‘Sacred 3’.

There is a curious but perceptive historical phenomenon (conceived by our great author) linking ‘Robert Devereux 2nd Earl of Essex’ with ‘Jesus Christ’, predicated on the number ‘XIX’ and known as ‘The Essex/Christ allusion’ (which I have written at length about). In this same Christian vain Oxford links Southampton to Christ employing the number ‘33’, remembering my contention (S.33) to be Shakespeare’s most important sonnet. Therefore, in making numerical sense of our ‘summery’ sonnet (S.18) we find three sonnets highlighted – presenting us the following sum:

18 + 33 + 54 = 105.

The content of these ‘first three’ sonnets amounts to unadulterated adulation for the “faire Youth” Henry VVriothesley 3rd Earl of Southampton – compared to a “Summer’s day” in (S.18), a Golden deity in (S.33), and a Rose in (S.54) while in paying-out this glorious adulation a somewhat self-conscious father is found at the beginning of (S.105).

Let not my love be called idolatry
Nor my beloved like an idol show.

‘Q’ of (S.54) makes a gematrical point by swapping from the word “fade” in line ‘10’ to the word “vade” in line ‘14’, his reasoning – the letters in “vade” specifically allude to his son Henry VVriothesley:

V = 20, A = ‘One’, D & E = ‘IX’.

The Godly Faire Youth’s TRUE day-of-creation was 20th May 1574 a fact confirmed by (S.20) where in line ‘7’ dead-centre of the sonnet we find the word “Hews” a marsupial of the name ‘Henry VVriothesley – before it continues with a ‘nature’ allusion regarding his mother the Queen.

And for a woman wert thou first created,
Till ‘nature’ as she wrought thee fell a doting.

‘One’ is the Hebrew word for God – the word selected by Oxford in (S.33) line ‘IX’ to describe his Godly son – which he does utilizing the homophone “sunne”.

My sunne ‘One’.

Somewhat freakishly by looking in Edward de Vere’s Geneva Bible held in the ‘Folger Shakespearean Library’ Washington D.C. The definition of the word ‘One’ found located in ‘Zechariah’ chapter ‘14’ Verse ‘IX’ is remarkable because Oxford’s TRUE day-of-creation (his day of birth) was July ‘14’ 1548.

And the Lord will be King over all the land
In that day there will be one Lord and his name is ‘One’.

In the ‘summer’ of 1574 ‘The Tudor Trinity’ (Elizabeth, Oxford & VVriothesley) were re-united in the spa city of Bath following a not so beautiful row Elizabeth and Oxford only just survived at Bella-court Greenwich regarding the upbringing and guardianship of their incestuously conceived son. This is why in the first of the Bath-sonnets (S.153) we find Oxford referring to the infant Prince as “the boy for trial” as to his profound consternation the child’s future was still undecided. I mention this because on August 21st 1574 when the “little love God” was exactly three months old, he and his nurse (secretly bestowed) formed part of the Queen’s retinue on her annual progress, arriving first at Bristol then on to Bath – a journey mentioned by Oxford in (S.33).

And from the forlorn world his visage hide
Stealing unseen to west with this disgrace.
Even so my sunne ‘One’ early morn did shine
With all triumphant splendour on my brow.

(S.105) explains how Oxford’s language his ”invention” varies when describing his Royal family, in which the “Faire Youth” morphs from “faire” to “Kinde”, with Elizabeth who liked to tack – tacking the other way – from “Kinde” to “Faire”.

Faire, Kinde and true, is all my argument,
Faire, Kinde and true, varying to other words
And in this change is my invention spent,
Three themes in ‘One’ which wonderous scope affords
Faire, Kinde and true, have often lived alone,
Which three till now never kept ‘seat’ in one.

The sense of perichoresis with which our author loftily considered his Royal family is apparent in the phrase “Three themes in ‘One’ – while across the Shakespeare cannon countless descriptions of the throne described as a Royal “seat” can be found, but alas for Oxford the dream of “Faire, Kinde and True” sharing the ‘throne’ together as a Royal family would remain just that – a dream!

Our great and virtuous poet produced a Rosy sonnet, serene and temperate in climate, although having said that he was not entirely divorced from the seamier side of life, as contrary to an almost irreversible consensus of opinion “Rough winds” are in fact bawdy, an insult aimed at the more pragmatic administrative arm of the Elizabethan state – whom our author found himself constantly at loggerheads with.

Henry VVriothesley’s TRUE date-of-creation (the actual day he was born) was 20th May 1574, while his official birthday was 6th October 1573 (as all illegitimate princes had two dates representing their nativity) line ‘3’ therefore alludes to the 3rd Earl of Southampton’s rock-a-bye baby birth.

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of Maie.

Being mindful of the Shakespearean spelling of “Maie” we see its gematrical-consequence is ‘27’, numbers Oxford saw individually as ‘20’ & ‘7’ two dates representing the creation of princes (Henry VVriothesley & Queen Elizabeth I).

Importantly, sight should not be lost of notice logged in the ‘Stationer’s Register’ of the publication of “William Shakespeare’s Sonnets” an event that happened on 20th May 1609 (pre-arranged during Oxford’s lifetime) with the motive of commemorating the ‘Faire youths’ TRUE date-of-creation, something confirmed by the word “Hews” a marsupial of the name Henry VVriothesley which is found both capitalised & italicised slap-bang in the middle of (S.20).

The rhyming words ow’st & grow’st located in the final quatrain (S.18) have also been corrupted for gematrical purposes, benefitting us when examined by introducing us to our author’s Royal Family.

Ow’st = ‘14’ & ‘40’ + ‘18’ & ‘19’ (in order) they represent our author’s creation date, his code, followed by Southampton and Essex (who was a half-brother to Oxford and Southampton) this same brother ‘Essex’ is the same brother “Edmund” finds himself “lag” of – at the beginning of Lear, because “lag” converts gematrically to ‘XIX’, this the number linking Essex and Christ.

Grow’st = ‘7’ Elizabeth’s creation, ‘17’ for the Rose VVriothesley, followed again by ‘14’ & ‘40’, with ‘18’ & ‘19’ Southampton and Essex once more.

Biologically speaking Edward de Vere was completely unrelated to the de Vere family – more correctly, he was ‘Edward Tudor’ which of course explains his obsession with the history of English monarchy. Knowing this fact also makes sense of what has been described as the greatest love in literature – Shakespeare’s love expressed in the sonnets for the “Faire Youth”, a love by one man for another – one man a father – the other a son.

Oxford, Southampton & Elizabeth (The Tudor Trinity) were divinely ordained princes, with the critical difference – only the Queen was legal, while the one thing we will possibly never ever know – is at what point in their incestuous relationship did Oxford realise Elizabeth to be his mother? The “foul pride” Oxford accuses his mother of in (S.144) is a sonnet I examine in my article “Twelve or 14 Moonshines” representing a sinful state escaped by the ‘Virgin Queen’ at death – while all at once – also escaping the TRUE reality from July ‘14’ 1548 she knew Oxford the first of her five sons.

Following arrival of literature from the French court, from an early age the precocious princess Elizabeth intellectually embraced incest as a lifestyle choice and with Oxford and Southampton being princely ‘Sons of Heaven’ to a greater or lesser degree they found themselves inducted by an erotic familia love. Then making sense of the last line of (S.33) we are stopped in our tracks by the blinding light of Incest emanating from a homophonous “Sunne” while it is worth momentarily considering just how many “suns” there are in our world?

Suns of the world may stain – when Heaven’s sun staineth.

Effectively this blinding light (the stain of incest) has prevented academia (particularly in England) from being able to honestly discuss matters of Shakespearean authorship – as at the heart of Royal Tudor England the scourge of incest cast a net far wider than hitherto accepted. Our brave author, fully aware how his death would bring relief from the melee of mind he suffered when contemplating the aberrations of his incestuous life, in (S.72) draws regretfully upon the “shame” of it all – while reflecting upon his forthcoming anonymity.

My name be buried where my body is
And live no more to shame nor me, nor you
For I am shamed by that which I bring forth
And so should you to love things nothing worth.                                                                

Contrarily, Oxford’s remit to eternity portrays in verse Southampton’s eternal summer, never to fade or lose possession of its “sweet ornament” its Godliness, Princeliness or Royal DNA, various component parts incorporated in his unique perception of the word “faire”. Then we discover by squaring ‘IX’, arrival at (S.81) where in line ‘IX’ this same theme continues – beautiful and immortal – without succumbing to the ogre of death’s shadow:

Your monument shall be my gentle verse.
Which eyes not yet created shall ‘ore-read’.

To reiterate the importance of gematria (regarding hyphenated words) his most used in the sonnets is the word “ore” (times ‘IX’) as: ‘O’ for Oxford = 14, ‘R’ for Rose = 17 & ‘E’ for Elizabeth = 5, therefore through Shakespeare’s ubiquity and the persistence of time we find the ‘faire-youth’ Southampton immortalised in verse, giving me the opportunity to quote a well-honed lament from his father Oxford.

Your name from hence immortal life shall have,
Though I (once gone) to all the world must die.

The fat-back-pocketed folk who dwell in Stratford-upon-Avon have zero desire for Southampton and Oxford to be known as kith and kin – therefore Shakespeare’s prophesy in which the ‘name’ Henry VVriothesley 3rd Earl of Southampton takes on “immortal life” has not yet entirely come to fruition, although in the guise of the “faire youth” he is entombed in men’s eyes, as an expression of the love expressed in the sonnets between ‘S’ & ‘O’ bought sharply into focus by the (S.18) couplet.                                                        

So long as men can breath and eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

 

Philip Cooper fecit © 26th March 2025.