Shakespeare's Sonnets: I never saw that you did painting need

Shakespeare's Sonnets: I never saw that you did painting need

Sonnet 83

Original Text
SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS (London: G. Eld for T. T. and sold by William Aspley, 1609): f2r.
1I never saw that you did painting need
2And therefore to your fair no painting set.
3I found (or thought I found) you did exceed
4The barren tender of a poet's debt,
5And therefore have I slept in your report
6That you your self, being extant, well might show
7How far a modern quill doth come too short,
8Speaking of worth, what worth in you doth grow.
9This silence for my sin you did impute,
10Which shall be most my glory, being dumb,
11For I impair not beauty, being mute,
12When others would give life and bring a tomb.
13    There lives more life in one of your fair eyes
14    Than both your poets can in praise devise.

Notes

2] your fair] your handsomeness. Back to Line
4] tender] offer to discharge a liability (OED, "tender," n.2, 1b). Back to Line
5] slept in your report] been inactive in writing about you. Back to Line
6] extant] alive. Back to Line
7] modern] ordinary. Back to Line
10] dumb] silent. Back to Line
14] both your poets] presumably Shakespeare and the rival poet. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1609
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2008
Rhyme
ababcdcdefefgg
Form
sonnet