8Â Â The line certainly references the previous sonnet's sestet where the poet's tears are anything but sweet.
11Â Â In his critique of DGR Buchanan suggested that the poet stole the sea-shell image from Landor, as Landor had accused Wordsworth of doing earlier (see Baum, The House of Life 133n ). Buchanan was led to this minor bit of spite after reading the recently (1869) published biography Walter Savage Landor by John Forster, where the supposed theft from Book I of Gebir by Wordsworth is noted (I. 84-85n).
14Â Â Baum's note to this line is pertinent: âW. M. R. understands this as âprayer for a boon not to be granted.â It means rather, I think, a prayer that ought not to be prayed; more plainly, a prayer for the unpermitted secret love.â (Baum, The House of Life 133n ).