Shakespeare's sonnet 102 deals mainly with the ideas of love and conflict in the relationship between a poet and his lover. The poets' lover simply does not think that he loves her as he used to, but has grown comfortable and bored with her. Shakespeare takes on this love-narrative by addressing the concerns his lover has with his affection towards her, and the fact that it has lessened in frequency over the course of their relationship. The way he approaches this conflict is by not only defending himself, but also by enlisting the use of Greek mythology in creating a parallel between himself and a Greek God. The first quatrain's concern is to address the love he has for her, and the reason's why he does not make it as evident to her as he used to. He says in line 2, "I love not less, though less the show appear." This statement is reinforced by the next two lines, which give the main reason why his love seems to be lessening. "That love is merchandised whose rich esteeming; the owners tongue doth publish every where," the point achieved through these lines is that the writer believes that published love is fabricated love. By publishing a hymn to his lover, he is sucking it of all its raw, necessary emotion and all that is left are words on paper which mean nothing. This is the main reason why the writer no longer writes poetry to his lover, he does not see it as an expression of deep emotion. The second and third quatrains are where Shakespeare decides to introduce the element of Greek mythology. The God he refers to by name is Philomel, the God of Sweetness. The myth tells of a story in which Philomel comes in early summer to sing, but she stops singing shortly thereafter, before the "riper days" of summer come around. The reason why Philomel traditionally stops singing so early is due to the fact that as "riper days" approach, the summer birds begin to sing, a
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