Shakespeare's Sonnets: As a decrepit father takes delight
Shakespeare's Sonnets: As a decrepit father takes delight
Sonnet 37
Original Text
SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS (London: G. Eld for T. T. and sold by William Aspley, 1609): c4v.
1As a decrepit father takes delight
2To see his active child do deeds of youth
3So I, made lame by fortune's dearest spite,
5For whether beauty, birth, or wealth, or wit,
6Or any of these all, or all, or more,
8I make my love ingrafted to this store:
9So then I am not lame, poor, nor despis'd,
10Whil'st that this shadow doth such substance give
11That I in thy abundance am suffic'd,
12And by a part of all thy glory live:
13 Look what is best, that best I wish in thee,
14 This wish I have, then ten times happy me.
Notes
4] of] from. Back to Line
7] their] Q; thy widely adopted. The apparent reference of "their" is the plural "these all, or all, or more" (6), so that emendation is not necessary to preserve sense in the passage. The phrase means "Entitled by virtue of their good qualities" (Shakespeare's Sonnets, ed. Stephen Booth [New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977]: 195). Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1609
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2008
Rhyme
Form