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William Shakespeare, Sonnet xxi

So is it not with me as with that muse,
Stirr'd by a painted beauty to his verse;
Who heaven itself for ornament doth use,
4
And every fair with his fair doth rehearse;
Making a couplement of proud compare, [*]
With sun and moon, with earth and sea's rich gems,
With April's first-born flowers, and all things rare
8
That heaven's air in this huge rondure hems. [*]
O let me, true in love, but truly write,
And then believe me, my love is as fair
As any mother's child, though not so bright
12
As those gold candles fix'd in heaven's air:
Let them say more that like of hearsay well;
I will not praise, that purpose not to sell.

Notes

line 5: Complement: union. So in Spenser: "Allied with bands of mutual couplement." [ Back to text ]

line 8: Rondure: circumference. [ Back to text ]

Most notes to Shakespeare's sonnets are from Charles Knight's edition, but those in square brackets are mine.