RPO -- William Shakespeare : Shakespeare's Sonnets: No more be griev'd at that which thou hast done

William Shakespeare (ca. 1564-1616)

Shakespeare's Sonnets: No more be griev'd at that which thou hast done
Sonnet 35

1No more be griev'd at that which thou hast done,

2Roses have thorns, and silver fountains mud,

3Clouds and eclipses stain both moon and sun,

4And loathsome canker lives in sweetest bud.

5All men make faults, and even I in this,

6Authorizing thy trespass with compare,

7My self corrupting salving thy amiss,

8Excusing their sins more than their sins are:

9For to thy sensual fault I bring in sense,

10Thy adverse party is thy advocate,

11And 'gainst my self a lawful plea commence,

12Such civil war is in my love and hate,

13 That I an accessary needs must be

14 To that sweet thief which sourly robs from me.

previous poem in the collection
Shakespeare's Sonnets: Why did'st thou promise such a beaut'ous day next poem in the collection
Shakespeare's Sonnets: Let me confess that we two must be twain

Notes

6] compare] comparison.

8] their sins] Q (twice); thy widely-adopted emendation. The apparent reference of "their" is "All men" (5), who of course include the beloved, so that, strictly speaking, emendation is unnecessary to preserve the sense of the passage.

9] sense] common sense.

13] accessary] the Q spelling (usually modernized to "accessory") has an OED main entry.

14] sourly] in a bad temper.

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): c4r.
First publication date: 1609
RPO poem editor: Ian Lancashire
RP edition: 2008
Recent editing: 1:2008/8/23

Form: sonnet
Rhyme: ababcdcdefefgg

Other poems by William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (ca. 1564-1616)

Shakespeare's Sonnets: No more be griev'd at that which thou hast doneSonnet 35

Shakespeare's Sonnets: No more be griev'd at that which thou hast done
Sonnet 35