Sonnet 10: for Shame, Deny That Thou Bear’st Love to Any
Sonnet 10: for Shame, Deny That Thou Bear’st Love to Any - meaning Summary
Plea to Preserve Beauty
The speaker reprimands a beloved who refuses to love others or himself, accusing him of self-destructive neglect. He urges the addressee to change his mind, to show kindness in person and at least to be kind to himself by "making another self," so that his beauty may survive. The sonnet frames moral admonition as a plea for preservation: procreation or self-care is presented as the remedy to mortal vanity and ruin.
Read Complete AnalysesFor shame, deny that thou bear’st love to any Who for thy self art so unprovident. Grant, if thou wilt, thou art beloved of many, But that thou none lov’st is most evident; For thou art so possessed with murd’rous hate, That ‘gainst thy self thou stick’st not to conspire, Seeking that beauteous roof to ruinate Which to repair should be thy chief desire. O, change thy thought, that I may change my mind! Shall hate be fairer lodged than gentle love? Be as thy presence is gracious and kind, Or to thy self at least kind-hearted prove, Make thee another self, for love of me, That beauty still may live in thine or thee.
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