Sonnet 87: Farewell! Thou Art Too Dear for My Possessing
Sonnet 87: Farewell! Thou Art Too Dear for My Possessing - form Summary
Volta Drives the Turn
Sonnet 87 is a Shakespearean sonnet that uses the form’s three quatrains and final couplet to stage a logical move from claim to resignation. The speaker frames the beloved’s departure in legal and economic terms, arguing that possession was granted, undeserved, and therefore returned. The volta around line nine shifts the tone from contractual reasoning to an image of illusion: the relationship likened to a flattering dream, ended by waking. The couplet delivers the final, lucid dismissal.
Read Complete AnalysesFarewell! Thou art too dear for my possessing, And like enough thou know’st thy estimate, The charter of thy worth gives thee releasing; My bonds in thee are all determinate. For how do I hold thee but by thy granting, And for that riches where is my deserving? The cause of this fair gift in me is wanting, And so my patent back again is swerving. Thyself thou gav’st, thy own worth then not knowing, Or me, to whom thou gav’st it, else mistaking; So thy great gift upon misprision growing, Comes home again, on better judgement making. Thus have I had thee as a dream doth flatter, In sleep a king, but waking no such matter.
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