Shakespeare's Sonnets: Look in thy glass and tell the face thou view'st

Shakespeare's Sonnets: Look in thy glass and tell the face thou view'st

Sonnet 3

Original Text
SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS (London: G. Eld for T. T. and sold by William Aspley, 1609): B1v.
1Look in thy glass and tell the face thou view'st,
2Now is the time that face should form an other
3Whose fresh repair, if now thou not renew'st,
4Thou dost beguile the world, unbless some mother.
5For where is she so fair whose un-ear'd womb
6Disdains the tillage of thy husbandry?
7Or who is he so fond will be the tomb
8Of his self love to stop posterity?
9Thou art thy mother's glass and she in thee
10Calls back the lovely April of her prime,
11So thou through windows of thine age shalt see,
12Despite of wrinkles, this thy golden time.
13    But if thou live rememb'red not to be,
14    Die single and thine image dies with thee.

Notes

1] view'st] viewest Q. Back to Line
2] other] extrametrical, with line 4. Back to Line
3] Whose] modifies "that face" (3). renew'st] renewest Q. Back to Line
4] beguile] cheat. unbless] deny a blessing (first OED citation). Back to Line
5] un-ear'd] unsown, not ploughed. Back to Line
6] tillage] cultivation, and sexual intercourse. husbandry] farming, and the role of a wife's husband. Back to Line
7] fond] foolish. Back to Line
9] glass] mirror. The mother of William Herbert, a candidate for the young man, was Mary Sidney, countess of Pembroke and sister of Sir Philip Sidney. Back to Line
10] prime] early adulthood, often compared to the spring season. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1609
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2008
Rhyme
ababcdcdefefgg
Form
sonnet