William Shakespeare, Sonnet liv
O how much more doth beauty beauteous seem,
By that sweet ornament which truth doth give!
The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem
4
For that sweet odour which doth in it live.
The canker-blooms have full as deep a dye [*]
As the perfumed tincture of the roses,
Hang on such thorns, and play as wantonly
8
When summer's breath their masked buds discloses:
But, for their virtue only is their show,
They live unwoo'd , and unrespected fade;
Die to themselves. Sweet roses do not so;
12
Of their sweet deaths are sweetest odours made:
And so of you, beauteous and lovely youth,
When that shall fade, by verse distils your truth. [*]
Notes
line 5: Canker-blooms -- the flowers of the canker or dog-rose. [ Back to text ]
line 14: By. The word of the original is altered by Malone to my. The change is certainly not wanted. [ Back to text ]
Most notes to Shakespeare's sonnets are from Charles Knight's edition, but those in square brackets are mine.