Tis the season – weddings abound! The two wonderful college students who rent a room from us are both marrying their respective sweethearts this summer, and several other invitations grace our refrigerator. So, it only seems right to feature Shakespeare’s love sonnets over the next few weeks. Enjoy!
Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone besmear’d with sluttish time.
When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,
Nor Mars his sword nor war’s quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.
‘Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity
Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room
Even in the eyes of all posterity
That wear this world out to the ending doom.
So, till the judgment that yourself arise,
You live in this, and dwell in lover’s eyes.
Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone besmear’d with sluttish time.
When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,
Nor Mars his sword nor war’s quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.
‘Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity
Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room
Even in the eyes of all posterity
That wear this world out to the ending doom.
So, till the judgment that yourself arise,
You live in this, and dwell in lover’s eyes.
~ William Shakespeare
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Sonnet II – When Forty Winters Shall Besiege Thy Brow
Sonnet XIII – Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer’s Day?
Sonnet CXXX – My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun
Old Books: When Your Heart Is Tired and Sore, Your Soul Has Need of Ease . . .
The Passionate Shepherd to His Love