Shakespeare's Sonnets: Let those who are in favour with their stars

Shakespeare's Sonnets: Let those who are in favour with their stars

Sonnet 25

Original Text
SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS (London: G. Eld for T. T. and sold by William Aspley, 1609): c2r.
2Of public honour and proud titles boast,
5Great princes' favorites their fair leaves spread
6But as the marigold at the sun's eye,
7And in them-selves their pride lies burièd,
8For at a frown they in their glory die.
10After a thousand victories once foil'd,
11Is from the book of honour rasèd quite,
12And all the rest forgot for which he toil'd:
13    Then happy I that love and am belovèd
14    Where I may not remove, nor be removed.

Notes

1] in favour with their stars] lucky. Back to Line
3] bars] denies. Back to Line
4] Unlook't for] unexpectedly. Back to Line
9] painful] pains-taking or -enduring. famoused] celebrated (earliest citation in 1606); made famous. worth] not rhyming with line 11, "quite." Emendation to "fight," "might," and "right" (among other words) is possibly undecidable. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1609
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2008
Form