William Shakespeare (ca. 1564-1616)
Shakespeare's Sonnets: Take all my loves, my love, yea take them all
Sonnet 40
1Take all my loves, my love, yea take them all,
2What hast thou then more than thou had'st before?
3No love, my love, that thou may'st true love call;
4All mine was thine before thou had'st this more.
5Then if for my love thou my love receiv'st,
6I cannot blame thee for my love thou us'st,
7But yet be blam'd, if thou this self deceiv'st
8By wilful taste of what thy self refus'st.
9I do forgive thy robb'ry, gentle thief,
10Although thou steal thee all my poverty;
11And yet love knows it is a greater grief
12To bear love's wrong than hate's known injury.
13 Lascivious grace, in whom all ill well shows,
14 Kill me with spites, yet we must not be foes.
Notes
5] receiv'st] receiuest Q.
6] for] because.
us'st] vsest Q.
7] this] sometimes emended to "thy," but the apparent referent, "this more" (line 4), makes sense, and the alternative after emendation (that the beloved deceives himself) is puzzling. deceiv'st] deceauest Q.
8] By] B y Q. refus'st] refuseth Q.
13] Lascivious] trisyllabic and elided.
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:
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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