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Notes

1] Every line in the poem is extrametrical, one syllable longer than Shakespeare's usual pentameter, "adding one thing to my purpose nothing" (11).

3] acquainted] perhaps punning on the female "quaint" (or genitalia).

11] By adding [one thing] defeated me of thee ...

12] The terms "one thing" and "nothing" refer playfully to the male and female sexual organs, respectively.

13] prick't] gave you a penis.

Other poems by William Shakespeare