Analysis of Sonnet 83 I have never seen that painting was necessary, and therefore at your fair no painting set. I found, or thought I found, that you surpassed the tender sterility of a poet's debt. And therefore I slept in your account, so that you yourself, being existing, could well show how a modern pen is too short. Speaking of value, how much value grows in you. You are charged with this silence for my sin, that my glory will be greater, being mute, because I do not compromise my beauty by being mute, when others would give their lives and carry a grave. There's more life in one of you pretty eyes than either of you poets can concoct in praise. In some of Shakespeare The reader can see from the sonnets that he was against the use of cosmetics. Commonly called “painting,” we see in this sonnet evidence of his aversion to the use of beautifying agents. 1-2: 'I never thought, the way you look, that you needed cosmetics, and therefore, you don't need a cosmetic kit to make yourself beautiful.' “Fix” can also be read as a verb here, as in drying makeup. (Makeup in Elizabethan England was very different from today, including some elements such as lead in the composition.) 3-4: "Exceed" does indeed refer to the "sterile tender", but it would not be inappropriate to infer that Shakespeare is reflecting on an "excessive" amount of cosmetics applied. But better is the 'overcoming in the absence [or worthless] payments (of flattery) of a poet's debt. By "debt" we mean both the debt that poets owe to beauty, such as their duty to praise it, and also a pun on monetary shortage. This then refers to "tender", which means both soft and elastic, and currency. All of these words create a financial theme, perhaps outlining the value of the recipient. 5: "Report" means description. 6-8: 'For your (still) existing self can show very well how a modern pen [writing instrument of the time] is too short in speaking of your value, of the value that grows in you'.