William Shakespeare, Sonnet lix
If there be nothing new, but that which is
Hath been before, how are our brains beguil'd ,
Which labouring for invention bear amiss
4
The second burthen of a former child!
O, that record could with a backward look,
Even of five hundred courses of the sun,
Show me your image in some antique book,
8
Since mind at first in character was done!
That I might see what the old world could say
To this composed wonder of your frame;
12
Or whether revolution be the same.
O! sure I am, the wits of former days
To subjects worse have given admiring praise.
Notes
line 11: Whe'r -- whether. [ Back to text ]
Most notes to Shakespeare's sonnets are from Charles Knight's edition, but those in square brackets are mine.