Meaning of “The will controls the beginnings of love, but…”

Affection cannot always be suppressed by command, but it can still change over time when the conditions that sustained it disappear.

The maxim distinguishes deliberate decision from emotional change, suggesting that some attachments fade through time rather than a single act of will.

Love is presented as relationship without ownership: closeness does not grant control over another person or require surrender of one’s own personhood.

Separation can expose the depth of attachment that ordinary familiarity concealed, making loss a painful measure of how much the bond mattered.

The phrase holds affection and pain together: separation hurts precisely because the relationship being left is valued.

The sonnet treats grief as attachment plus the pain attached to what has been lost, refusing to separate sorrow cleanly from love.