Shakespeare's Sonnets: But wherefore do not you a mightier way

Shakespeare's Sonnets: But wherefore do not you a mightier way

Sonnet 16

Original Text
SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS (London: G. Eld for T. T. and sold by William Aspley, 1609): b4r.
1But wherefore do not you a mightier way
2Make war upon this bloody tyrant time
3And fortify your self in your decay
4With means more blessèd than my barren rhyme?
5Now stand you on the top of happy hours,
6And many maiden gardens yet unset,
7With virtuous wish would bear your living flow'rs,
8Much liker than your painted counterfeit:
9So should the lines of life that life repair
10Which this (time's pencil or my pupil pen)
11Neither in inward worth nor outward fair
12Can make you live your self in eyes of men;
13    To give away your self keeps your self still,
14    And you must live drawn by your own sweet skill.

Notes

1] mightier] apparently elided. Back to Line
3] Shakespeare takes sides with decay against time (15.11-12). Back to Line
5] The metaphor suggests that the beloved is at the peak of his life's happiness and can look forward to less happy hours in the future. Back to Line
6] unset] yet without plants (OED 5c). Back to Line
9] lines of life] wrinkles, and "the thread fabled to be spun by the Fates, determining the duration of a person's life" (OED 1g, from ca. 1580, and credited to Sir Philip Sidney, late uncle to Lord Herbert and brother to his mother, Mary Sidney); or possibly one's descendents. Back to Line
10] pencil] "paintbrush made with fine hair tapered to a point, esp. a small brush suitable for delicate work" (OED, "pencil," 1.a.). Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1609
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2008
Rhyme
ababcdcdefefgg
Form
sonnet