Sonnet 80: O, How I Faint When I of You Do Write
Sonnet 80: O, How I Faint When I of You Do Write - meaning Summary
Admiration Stifled by Rival
The speaker feels overwhelmed writing about a beloved because a superior poet already lavishes praise on that person. He compares their different abilities to vessels: the rival is a towering ship on deep waters while the speaker is a humble, fragile bark that nonetheless sails on the beloved’s wide worth. He accepts that the other may prevail and that his devotion might lead to his own obscurity or ruin.
Read Complete AnalysesO, how I faint when I of you do write, Knowing a better spirit doth use your name, And in the praise thereof spends all his might To make me tongue-tied speaking of your fame. But since your worth, wide as the ocean is, The humble as the proudest sail doth bear, My saucy bark, inferior far to his, On your broad main doth wilfully appear. Your shallowest help will hold me up afloat, Whilst he upon your soundless deep doth ride; Or, being wrecked, I am a worthless boat, He of tall building, and of goodly pride. Then if he thrive and I be cast away, The worst was this: my love was my decay.
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