Shakespeare's Sonnets: They that have pow'r to hurt and will do none

Shakespeare's Sonnets: They that have pow'r to hurt and will do none

Sonnet 94

Original Text
SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS (London: G. Eld for T. T. and sold by William Aspley, 1609): f4v.
1They that have pow'r to hurt and will do none,
2That do not do the thing they most do show,
3Who, moving others, are themselves as stone,
4Unmovèd, cold, and to temptation slow,
5They rightly do inherit heav'n's graces
6And husband nature's riches from expense,
7They are the lords and own'rs of their faces,
8Others but stewards of their excellence.
9The summer's flow'r is to the summer sweet,
10Though to it self it only live and die,
11But if that flow'r with base infection meet,
12The basest weed out-braves his dignity,
13    For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds:
14    Lillies that fester smell far worse than weeds.

Notes

2] show] express in their faces (cf. 7). Back to Line
4] cold] could Q. heav'n's] heauens Q. Back to Line
6] husband ... from expense] save from being expended. Back to Line
7] They are] perhaps "They're". own'rs] ownrs Q. Back to Line
12] his] the flower's. Back to Line
14] This line was spoken by the Countess of Salisbury about the king in Edward III 2.1.451, an anonymous play now accepted to have been written, in part, by Shakespeare. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1609
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2008
Rhyme
ababcdcdefefgg
Form
sonnet