William Shakespeare (ca. 1564-1616)
Shakespeare's Sonnets: Oh how much more doth beauty beaut'ous seem
Sonnet 54
1Oh how much more doth beauty beaut'ous seem,
2By that sweet ornament which truth doth give!
3The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem
4For that sweet odor which doth in it live:
5The canker blooms have full as deep a die
6As the perfumed tincture of the roses,
7Hang on such thorns, and play as wantonly,
8When summer's breath their masked buds discloses:
9But for their virtue only is their show,
10They live unwoo'd, and unrespected fade,
11Die to themselves. Sweet roses do not so;
12Of their sweet deaths are sweetest odors made:
13 And so of you, beaut'ous and lovely youth,
14 When that shall vade, by verse distils your truth.
Notes
1] beaut'ous] beautious Q.
2] truth] faithfulness, constancy.
5] canker] "A type of wild rose, esp. the dog rose, Rosa canina; (also) the fruit of this plant" (OED, "canker," 8b).
13] beaut'ous] beautious Q.
14] that] beauty (cf. line 1). vade] fade.
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): d4r.
First publication date:
1609
RPO poem editor: Ian Lancashire
RP edition: 2008
Recent editing: 1:2008/8/24
Form: sonnet
Rhyme: ababcdcdefefgg
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