Sonnet 115: Those Lines That I Before Have Writ Do Lie
Sonnet 115: Those Lines That I Before Have Writ Do Lie - context Summary
Published in 1609 Collection
Sonnet 115 appears in Shakespeare's 1609 Sonnets, dedicated "To Mr. W.H." and presented in the formal sonnet shape. Its occasion and exact year of composition are unknown, but the poem belongs to the Fair Youth sequence and participates in the collection's sustained exploration of changing affection. Published as part of that 1609 volume, it stages a speaker revising earlier vows while acknowledging Time's meddling role in love and promise.
Read Complete AnalysesThose lines that I before have writ do lie, Even those that said I could not love you dearer; Yet then my judgment knew no reason why My most full flame should afterwards burn clearer, But reckoning Time, whose millioned accidents Creep in ‘twixt vows, and change decrees of kings, Tan sacred beauty, blunt the sharp’st intents, Divert strong minds to the course of alt’ring things Alas, why, fearing of Time’s tyranny, Might I not then say, Now I love you best, When I was certain o’er incertainty, Crowning the present, doubting of the rest? Love is a babe; then might I not say so, To give full growth to that which still doth grow.
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