SONNET 142
Love is my sin and thy dear virtue hate,
Hate of my sin, grounded on sinful loving:
O, but with mine compare thou thine own state,
And thou shalt find it merits not reproving;
Or, if it do, not from those lips of thine,
That have profaned their scarlet ornaments
And seal'd false bonds of love as oft as mine,
Robb'd others' beds' revenues of their rents.
Be it lawful I love thee, as thou lovest those
Whom thine eyes woo as mine importune thee:
Root pity in thy heart, that when it grows
Thy pity may deserve to pitied be.
If thou dost seek to have what thou dost hide,
By self-example mayst thou be denied.
Anyone care to share their favorite Shakespearean sonnet?
Hi Odessa!
ReplyDeleteThis is the first time I ever post a comment on somebody's blog. My book of Shakespearen sonnets has dark blue velvet covers, so the book itself is lovely. The sonnet I chose here is my favorite at the moment.
Snowy greetings, *Neci*.
SONNET CVI
When in the chronicle of wasted time
I see descriptions of the fairest wights.
And beauty making beautiful old rhyme
in praise of ladies dead and lovely knights,
Then, in the blazon of sweet beauty's best,
Of hand, of foot, of lip, of eye, of brow,
I see their antique pen would have express'd
Even such a beauty as you master now.
So all their praises are but prophecies
Of this our time, all you prefiguring;
And, for they look'd but with divining eyes,
They had not skill enough your worth to sing:
For we, which now behold these present days,
Have eyes to wonder, but lack tongues to praise.
I really love that one too!
ReplyDeleteUsually, I read from my Arden Shakespeare, but my brother gave me a really lovely illustrated edition of "The Love Poems of Shakespeare" a few years ago that has all of the sonnets as well as Venus and Adonis.
Thanks for visiting Neci.