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Lucas21c Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

Interpretation of a poetic word

Could you tell me what the meaning of the following 'aggravate' is?
(Does it still mean 'to make something worse' as usual?)
Thank you.

.......
And let that pine to aggravate thy store;
.......

(I extracted it from Sonnet 146 of Shakespeare. If you need the whole, 14 lines, please refer this - http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/146.html )
  

Top answer

No. You make something worse by adding to what is already bugging you. Here, Shakespeare uses it in its early meaning: to increase.

— Terryxpress

  • No.
  • You make something worse by adding to what is already bugging you.
  • Here, Shakespeare uses it in its early meaning: to increase.
  • Then soul, live thou upon thy servant's loss, And let that pine to aggravate thy store; The body is just the outward wall - the soul is inside.
  • And yet the soul seems to drive us to regard the body as some mansion and regard it as more important.
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2 Answers
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No.
You make something worse by adding to what is already bugging you. Here, Shakespeare uses it in its early meaning:
to increase.

Then soul, live thou upon thy servant's loss,
And let that pine to aggravate thy store;

The body is just the
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lucas21cAnd let that pine to aggravate thy store;
This strikes me as a very tough sonnet!

The main metaphor seems to be choosing or providing food to eat, so I'm guessing "store" would be the reserve of "food."

To "aggravate" that store could be to deplete it in this case -- in a sense to make it worse than it previously was.
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