See the Introduction to this presentation of early poems by Edward de Vere. Click here to go to the next poem or the previous poem in the series. All the poems, and a printable pdf version of the entire presentation, may also be accessed from the Introduction. See also Note on Sources, Titles, and Presentation of Parallels, Key to Abbreviations, and Bibliography of Works Cited.
Poem No. 2: “Even as the Wax Doth Melt”
1 Even as the wax doth melt, or dew consume away
2 Before the Sun, so I behold, through careful thoughts decay,
3 For my best luck leads me to such sinister state
4 That I do waste with others’ love, that hath myself in hate,
5 And he that beats the bush, the wished bird not gets,
6 But such I see as sitteth still, and holds the fowling nets.
7 The Drone more honey sucks, that laboureth not at all,
8 Than doth the Bee, to whose most pain least pleasure doth befall;
9 The Gardener sows the seeds whereof the flowers do grow,
10 And others yet do gather them that took less pain, I know;
11 So I the pleasant grape have pulled from the Vine,
12 And yet I languish in great thirst while others drink the wine.
13 Thus like a woeful wight I wove my web of woe;
14 The more I would weed out my cares, the more they seem to grow.
15 The which betokeneth hope, forsaken is of me,
16 That with the careful culver climbs the worn and withered tree
17 To entertain my thoughts, and there my hap to moan,
18 That never am less idle, lo, than when I am alone.
Textual sources: Poems 2 through 9 were first published in The Paradise of Dainty Devices (Richard Edwards ed. 1576). See Hannah (241, text not provided); Grosart (396-98); Looney (1921, 31-32, Miller ed. 1975, 1: 589-90); May (#2) (1980, 26, 68-69, 118; 1991, 271).
Many of the poems in Paradise (perhaps most of the eight by de Vere) were apparently written as song lyrics to be put to music (see May 1980, 70). Since Edwards, the editor who apparently collected them, died in 1566, they may all date to the 1560s, when de Vere was still a teenager.
Structure: Three six-line stanzas in rhyming couplets.
Looney’s title: “Care and Disappointment”
Past commentaries on parallels: Looney (1920, 164; 1921, lxxiv-lxxv); Sobran (234-35); Brazil & Flues; Goldstein (2016, 49-50; 2017, 23).
Clarifications of the text:
(2, 16) The word careful is used idiomatically here to mean “full of cares or worries,” not “cautious” (OED 2: 896). A culver refers to a dove or pigeon (OED 4: 122).
(13) A wight means a person (who can be male or female), with some connotation of commiseration or contempt (OED 20: 328).
Strongest parallels to No. 2:
(1-2) Even as the wax doth melt, or dew consume away Before the Sun, so I, behold, through careful thoughts decay
The image of wax, dew, or snow, melting, dissolving, decaying, or being consumed, especially under the influence of the sun, occurs frequently in Shakespeare, often related (as here) to the melting, decay, etc., of the self, body, or human attributes like virtue, willpower, or love.
‘as soon decayed and done As is the morning’s silver-melting dew Against the golden splendor of the sun!’ (Lucrece, 23-25); ‘when sun doth melt their snow’ (Lucrece, 1218); ‘As mountain snow melts with the midday sun’ (Venus, 750); ‘Scarce had the sun dried up the dewy morn’ (Pass. Pilg., 6.1); ‘cold snow melts with the sun’s hot beams’ (2 Hen. VI, 3.1.223); ‘her wax must melt’ (3 Hen. VI, 3.2.51); ‘that melted at the sweet tale of the sun’s’ (1 Hen. IV, 2.4.121); ‘melted away with rotten dews’ (Cor., 2.3.30); ‘solid flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew’ (Ham., 1.2.129); ‘let virtue be as wax And melt in her own fire’ (Ham., 3.4.85); cf. ‘Let your love even with my life decay’ (Sonnets, 71.12).
The distinctive phrase consume away is similarly applied by Shakespeare to the idea of the body being consumed by suppressed or overpowering emotion, care, or thoughts.
‘Therefore let Benedick, like covered fire, Consume away in sighs, waste inwardly’ (Much, 3.1.78); cf. ‘That you in pity may dissolve to dew’ (Rich. II, 5.1.9); ‘consume away in rust’ (John, 4.1.65).
The latter quotation from King John refers to hot irons cooling and dissolving in young Arthur’s tears, as if in pity, rather than putting out his eyes.
(4) that hath myself in hate
‘My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself’ (R&J, 2.2.55); ‘He scowls and hates himself for his offense’ (Lucrece, 738); ‘Whose deed hath made herself herself detest’ (Lucrece, 1566).
This theme of self-hatred is perhaps explored most elaborately in the following ten lines in Richard III:
What do I fear? myself? there’s none else by:
Richard loves Richard; that is, I am I.
Is there a murderer here? No. Yes, I am:
Then fly. What, from myself? Great reason why:
Lest I revenge. What, myself upon myself?
Alack. I love myself. Wherefore? for any good
That I myself have done unto myself?
O, no! alas, I rather hate myself
For hateful deeds committed by myself!
I am a villain: yet I lie. I am not.
(5.3.198-207)
(7-8) The Drone more honey sucks, that laboureth not at all, Than doth the Bee
See No. 1.13-14 (The idle Drone that labours not at all Sucks up the sweet of honey from the Bee).
(16-18) That with the careful culver climbs the worn and withered tree
To entertain my thoughts, and there my hap to moan
That never am less idle, lo, than when I am alone
Compare the scene deftly sketched by Shakespeare between the disconsolate teenagers Romeo and Benvolio (perhaps recalling to the mature playwright this lyric written during his own moody youth?):
‘Towards him I [Benvolio] made, but he [Romeo] was ware of me And stole into the covert of the wood. I, measuring his affections by my own, Which then most sought where most might not be found [i.e., Benvolio also wanted to be alone], Being one too many by my weary self, Pursued my humor, not pursuing his, And gladly shunned who gladly fled from me’ (R&J, 1.1.122-28).
Looney (1920, 164) noted this parallel with a quotation of these lines in Romeo and Juliet that seemed to blend later versions of the play with its first (so-called “bad”) quarto (first published in 1597) (the second quarto appeared in 1599, followed by later quarto versions and the 1623 First Folio). The quotation above (as with Shakespearean quotations generally in this study) is a standard modern one based on the later versions.
For present purposes, however, consider the strikingly closer parallel between de Vere’s early lyric and the equivalent lines in the first quarto (lines 127-30 in the online text of Q1 available here):
Additional parallels to No. 2:
(2) careful thoughts
As noted above, the word careful is used idiomatically here to mean “full of cares or worries,” not “cautious.” So also in line 16 (careful culver), No. 10.15 (careful corse), and in de Vere’s letter of October 31, 1572, to his father-in-law William Cecil (Lord Burghley) (Fowler 107): “Your last letters … after so many storms passed of your heavy grace towards me, lightened and disburdened my careful mind.”
Likewise in Shakespeare: ‘By Him that raised me to this careful height’ (Rich. III, 1.3.84); ‘The feast is ready, which the careful Titus hath ordained to an honourable end’ (Titus, 5.3.21-22). Careful means not that Titus prepared the feast “with care” (i.e., cautiously or with attention to detail), but rather while “full of cares.”
(5-6) And he that beats the bush, the wished bird not gets, But such I see as sitteth still, and holds the fowling nets
See No. 1.25-26 (For he that beats the bush the bird not gets, But who sits still, and holdeth fast the nets).
(8) to whose most pain least pleasure doth befall
‘Having no other pleasure of his gain But torment that it cannot cure his pain’ (Lucrece, 860-61); ‘No pains, sir. I take pleasure in singing, sir’ (Twelfth, 2.4.67); ‘since you make your pleasure of your pains’ (Twelfth, 3.3.2).
See also No. 8.18 (What thing did please, and what did pain?) and No. 13.14 (a pleasure mixed with pain).
(11) So I the pleasant grape have pulled from the vine
‘For one sweet grape who will the vine destroy?’ (Lucrece, 215).
(13) wove my web of woe
‘Now she unweaves the web that she hath wrought’ (Venus, 991).
(14) The more I would weed out my cares, the more they seem to grow
‘To weed my vice and let his grow’ (Meas., 3.2.70).
Continue to Poem No. 3, return to Poem No. 1, or return to the Introduction.
[published June 22, 2018, updated 2021]
