Chapter 9: Virtue

The day is cool, calm and bright. It is called the wedding (bridal) of the earth and sky.

The dew weeps (laments); it mourns the death/fall of the sweet day.

The rose's colour is so bright and bold ('angry and brave') that it makes the gazer wipe his eye; yet its root lies in the grave — so it too must die.

Spring is full of sweet days and roses, compared to a box where sweets lie compacted.

The soul is sweet and virtuous. It is compared to seasoned timber. Its distinguishing quality: it never gives (breaks down) — even if the whole world turns to coal, it 'chiefly lives' (is immortal).

The day is personified ('thou must die'). The rose's colour is 'angry and brave' because it is so bright and bold that it dazzles the gazer.

The rose's root lies in its grave (the earth). The soul's immortality is shown by comparing it to seasoned timber that never breaks; even when the world ends (turns to coal), the virtuous soul 'chiefly lives'.

Central theme: Worldly beauty is temporary and dies, but a virtuous soul is eternal. A virtuous soul is described as sweet and strong, like seasoned timber that never yields, living for ever.

The sweet day, the sweet rose and the sweet spring.

They are all sweet and beautiful but short-lived — 'all must die'.

Only a sweet and virtuous soul.

Wood made fit for use that never breaks; the virtuous soul, like it, never yields and lasts for ever.

bright–die–night ; brave–grave ; roses–closes.

Physical beauty — the day, rose and spring — is temporary and must die. Only a virtuous soul is eternal; even at the end of the world it survives. So true worth lies in virtue, not mere beauty.

Each stanza presents something sweet — day, rose, spring — and ends with 'must die' / 'all must die', building the idea that all earthly beauty is doomed to perish.

By comparing it to seasoned timber that never gives way, and by saying that even when the whole world turns to coal at the end, the virtuous soul 'chiefly lives' — proving it is eternal.

ଶିଶିର।

'thou/all must die'.