William Shakespeare (ca. 1564-1616)
Shakespeare's Sonnets: If thou survive my well-contented day
Sonnet 32
1If thou survive my well-contented day,
2When that churl death my bones with dust shall cover,
3And shalt by fortune once more re-survey
4These poor rude lines of thy deceased lover,
5Compare them with the bett'ring of the time,
6And though they be out-stripp't by every pen,
7Reserve them for my love, not for their rhyme,
8Exceeded by the height of happier men.
9Oh then vouchsafe me but this loving thought,
10"Had my friend's muse grown with this growing age,
11A dearer birth than this his love had brought
12To march in ranks of better equipage:
13 But since he died and poets better prove,
14 Theirs for their style I'll read, his for his love."
Notes
8] happier] more fortunate or talented.
Online text copyright © 2012, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.
Original text: SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS (London: G. Eld for T. T. and sold by William Aspley, 1609): c3v.
First publication date:
1609
RPO poem editor: Ian Lancashire
RP edition: 2008
Recent editing: 1:2008/8/23
Form: sonnet
Rhyme: ababcdcdefefgg
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