Shakespeare's Sonnets: Those parts of thee that the world's eye doth view

Shakespeare's Sonnets: Those parts of thee that the world's eye doth view

Sonnet 69

Original Text
SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS (London: G. Eld for T. T. and sold by William Aspley, 1609): e3r.
1Those parts of thee that the world's eye doth view
2Want nothing that the thought of hearts can mend:
6But those same tongues that give thee so thine own
7In other accents do this praise confound
8By seeing farther than the eye hath shown.
9They look into the beauty of thy mind,
10And that in guess they measure by thy deeds.
11Then churls their thoughts (although their eyes were kind)
13    But why thy odour matcheth not thy show,

Notes

3] due] end Q. This word should rhyme with "view" (1), as the rhyme-words "due," "new," and "true" do in these sonnets, and Q "end" does not. Shakespeare uses the expression "give [someone] his due" elsewhere (see OED "due," n., 2.b). Back to Line
4] ev'n] euen Q. Back to Line
5] Their] Q; Thy frequent emendation. The apparent reference of "Their" is "Those parts of thee" (1), so that emendation is not necessary to preserve the sense of the passage. Back to Line
12] flow'r] flower Q. Back to Line
14] folly's this] solye is thisQ. Normally emended to "soil" (an inversion of "l" and "y", although a perhaps more common flaw is misreading of long-"s" for "f". Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1609
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2008
Form