"But if thou live rememb'red not to be . . ."

[Flask]

"But if thou live rememb'red not to be,
Die single, and thine image dies with thee."
-- Shakespeare, Sonnet 3, lines 13-14

Regarding this closing couplet of Shakespeare's third sonnet, I've been having trouble deciding how the phrase "rememb'red not to be," which I take to be a rearrangement of "not to be rememb'red," relates grammatically to the rest of the "if"-clause. Judging by some paraphrases I've seen of that line, I think that many people treat it as an infinitive of purpose, an "in order to" infinitive without "in order": "But if thou live in order not to be remembered . . ."

That parsing doesn't sit well with me from a semantic standpoint. I don't think Shakespeare had in mind someone striving to live so as not to be remembered. Rather, it seems to me that he had in mind someone who lives such that he is not remembered afterwards. I think that it is the type of infinitive that I am accustomed to seeing and using with "only." For example: "He played on the team for five years, only to be replaced by someone with far less experience."

But what type of infinitive is that from a grammatical standpoint? I have yet to go through my books in search of a classification. My best guess is that it is a subject complement, rather like "single" is in "Die single" (cf. "He died single"). I would rest content with that analysis, but I can't recall ever having seen an infinitive analyzed as a subject complement after a verb of full predication. Do you think it is possible to parse this type of infinitive as a subject complement?

If you live not to be remembered and die single, your image will die with you.
If you live only to be forgotten and die single, your image will die with you.

Thank you.

 

[jutfrank]

That parsing doesn't sit well with me from a semantic standpoint. I don't think Shakespeare had in mind someone striving to live so as not to be remembered.

Well, not exactly someone deliberately 'striving' not to be remembered, as if that's the goal, but someone who consciously decides not to have kids. I think for Shakespeare, not being remembered and being childless are equivalent. If you're consciously opting not to have children, you're therefore consciously opting not to be remembered by them.

In this final couplet, he's just saying what will happen if you do choose to remain childless.

 

[emsr2d2]

For the sake of our learners, who might be as perplexed by some of the language in this thread as by the Shakespeare quote itself, I take this to mean "If you're not bothered about being remembered after you die, stay single and don't have any kids (so there won't be anyone who resembles you facially)".

 

[Flask]

Well, not exactly someone deliberately 'striving' not to be remembered, as if that's the goal, but someone who consciously decides not to have kids. I think for Shakespeare, not being remembered and being childless are equivalent. If you're consciously opting not to have children, you're therefore consciously opting not to be remembered by them.

That was very thought-provoking, Jutfrank. Thank you. I see things a little differently than you do, but I had to work through your interpretation and do an overhaul of my own interpretation in order to arrive at my present one. Regardless of how the infinitive in the couplet is parsed -- and I am still very much interested in that! -- I see that the meaning of the couplet hangs on the meaning of certain terms as they relate to the sonnet as a whole.

I now think "live not to be remembered" is actually about the speaker's own future remembering of himself as he is now, in the prime of his youth. The sonnet begins, in so many words, "Look in the mirror and instruct the fresh face you see to form another." Later on, we read, "Thou art thy mother's glass, and she in thee / Calls back the lovely April of her prime." In other words, through him, his mother remembers herself in the prime of her youth.

The sonnet continues: "So thou, through windows of thine age shalt see, / Despite of wrinkles, this thy golden time." I've read that "windows of thine age" refers to his eyes as he ages. Thus, if he has kids, one day he'll be able to look out through the windows of his aging eyes and see, in his offspring, a reflection of how he is now, in the prime of his youth. The "if"-clause would therefore seem to be about the possibility of this not happening.

If the above interpretation is correct, then "dying single" might properly be said to be about not dying duplicated rather than about dying unmarried. If he dies without having formed another in the likeness of himself, then there will not be an image of himself after his death. Of a certainty, his image will also cease to exist. "Die single, and thy image dies with thee." Not only will he not find his image in his likeness, but nobody else will find his image, either.

 

[jutfrank]

If the above interpretation is correct, then "dying single" might properly be said to be about not dying duplicated rather than about dying unmarried.

Yes, very nice.

I like the idea that one's image is duplicated in the both the mirror and in the face of one's children. The reference to 'thou' throughout the poem could equally be to the reader as well as to the poet himself as he looks in the mirror. Great poetic use of, um, reflection. The central idea of having children in one's likeness is reflected in the mirror metaphor, as both reader and poet reflect on what it means to leave a legacy!