previous poem in the collection Shakespeare's Sonnets: If the dull substance of my flesh were thought next poem in the collection Shakespeare's Sonnets: Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war

Notes

1] The four elements are earth and water (treated in the previous sonnet), and air and fire, which correspond to the "humours" of mankind, respectively, melancholic and phlegmatic, and sanguine and choleric.

7] two] earth (melancholy) and water (tears; cf. 44.14).

8] melancholy] presumably elided.

9] life's] liues Q. composition] composed of the quantities of the four humours. recured] healed, restored.

10] messengers] air and fire.

11] ev'n] euen Q.

12] their] sometimes emended to "thy," but the apparent referent, "messengers" (line 10), makes sense: the sonnet is about Shakespeare's health, not that of the beloved.

Other poems by William Shakespeare