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William Shakespeare (ca. 1564-1616)

Shakespeare's Sonnets: Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
Sonnet 55


              1Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
              2Of princes shall out-live this pow'rful rhyme,
              3But you shall shine more bright in these contents
              4Than unswept stone, besmear'd with sluttish time.
              5When wasteful war shall statues over-turn
              6And broils root out the work of masonry,
              7Nor Mars his sword nor war's quick fire shall burn
              8The living record of your memory.
              9'Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity
            10Shall you pace forth, your praise shall still find room,
            11Ev'n in the eyes of all posterity
            12That wear this world out to the ending doom.
            13    So till the judgement that your self arise,
            14    You live in this, and dwell in lovers' eyes.

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Notes

1] monuments] monument Q. A rhyme with "contents" and the plural implied by "princes" support the universal emendation.

4] sluttish] dirty.

5] wasteful] laying waste.

7] Mars] Roman god of war.

9] enmity] emnity Q.

11] Ev'n] Euen Q.

13] arise] resurrect ("your self" is the object of the verb, which is, unusually, transitive).

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-d4v.
First publication date: 1609
RPO poem editor: Ian Lancashire
RP edition: 2008
Recent editing: 1:2008/8/24

Form: sonnet
Rhyme: ababcdcdefefgg

Other poems by William Shakespeare

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