Sonnet 71: No Longer Mourn for Me When I Am Dead
Sonnet 71: No Longer Mourn for Me When I Am Dead - meaning Summary
Love Asks to Be Forgotten
The speaker urges his beloved not to mourn or remember him after his death. He asks that she let his name and their love fade so that thinking of him will not cause her sorrow or expose her to public mockery. The request is framed as an act of devotion: forgetting him is portrayed as the kindest way to protect her peace and reputation once he is gone.
Read Complete AnalysesNo longer mourn for me when I am dead Than you shall hear the surly sullen bell Give warning to the world that I am fled From this vile world with vilest worms to dwell. Nay if you read this line, remember not The hand that writ it, for I love you so That I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot If thinking on me then should make you woe. O, if, I say, you look upon this verse, When I perhaps compounded am with clay, Do not so much as my poor name rehearse, But let your love even with my life decay, Lest the wise world should look into your moan And mock you with me after I am gone.
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