Think you’ve got your head wrapped around Sonnet 146? Put your knowledge to
the test. Good luck — the Stickman is counting on you!
Q. What does the Speaker mean when he asks his soul "Why dost thou pine within and suffer dearth"?
He wants to know why his soul doesn't want his body to have an extra slice of pizza
He's comparing his soul to a pine box (aka a coffin)
He never gets enough to eat because writing poetry doesn't pay well
His soul isn't being nourished because it's too busy spending its energy on bodily desires
Q. Why does the Speaker call worms the "inheritors" of the body's "excess"?
He wants his pet worm to be included in his will
It's a metaphor for how worms feed on corpses that are buried in the ground
The Speaker is dying because he has a tape worm
The Speaker is accusing his mistress of being unfaithful
Q. What does the Speaker mean when he says "Within be fed, without be rich no more"?
Eat a well balanced diet to fight off the plague
Nourish your inner spirit and forget about fancy clothes and other materialistic stuff
Spend more money on food and less money on decorating your house
Always donate money to help feed the poor
Q. Why does the Speaker say "So thou shalt feed on death"?
He's referring to those worms again
He thinks death can be destroyed when a soul lives eternally in heaven
He sees nothing wrong with turning road kill into hamburgers for the July 4th picnic
Dude has no idea what he's talking about
Q. What does the Speaker means when he says "death" usually "feeds on men"?
The human body is mortal—it's going to die eventually
The Elizabethans were cannibal zombies
Shakespeare had a dog named "Death" and it was always biting people
Famine