Sonnet 106, Week 147

[Candy]

When in the chronicle of wasted time
I see descriptions of the fairest wights,
And beauty making beautiful old rhyme
In praise of ladies dead and lovely knights,
Then, in the blazon of sweet beauty's best,
Of hand, of foot, of lip, of eye, of brow,
I see their antique pen would have express'd
Even such a beauty as you master now.
So all their praises are but prophecies
Of this our time, all you prefiguring;
And, for they look'd but with divining eyes,
They had not skill enough your worth to sing:
For we, which now behold these present days,
Have eyes to wonder, but lack tongues to praise.

[Tom]

You, my beloved, are like a celebrated lady of old (and I your knight); yet you surpass the ability of those bards to describe. What they wrote was but a foretaste of you. A clever and lovely play of thought.

[JimF]

Theme of sonnet 106 is Bible. Key is "praise of Ladies dead" in line 4. The "their" in line 7 indicates Bible authors; "you" in line 8 indicates personified Bible. "Chronicle" in line one hints at the Books of Chronicles.

Dead has the usage of silent. "Ladies dead" means not deceased but silent women, taken from Bible:

Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. (1Tm 2:11–14)

Let your women keep silence in the churches. (1Co. 14:34)

Every sonnet is riddled. Find the right answer, every word can be well reasoned, e.g. prophecies in line 9.