Sonnet 82

William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 82 is one of the sequence of 154 sonnets first published in 1609.

I grant thou wert not married to my muse,

And therefore mayst without attaint o’erlook

The dedicated words which writers use

Of their fair subject, blessing every book.

Thou art as fair in knowledge as in hue,

Find’st thy report as sweet as thy first taste,

For my love only serves to praise in few,

But those few notes that I with much delight

Do sing, are purpose and not passing vaunt;

They breathe the truth, and therefore stand they sure:

The foolish have got tongues; and now, alas,

I see that all things are not good as they were.

But,—what?—since thou dost spare my serious rhymes,

And dost allow the flatterers’ pens to play,

I find thy favour doth to others move,

And yet I chide not when thy heart looks that way.

Lines 1–4

I grant thou wert not married to my muse,

And therefore mayst without attaint o’erlook

The dedicated words which writers use

Of their fair subject, blessing every book.

Lines 5–8

Thou art as fair in knowledge as in hue,

Find’st thy report as sweet as thy first taste,

For my love only serves to praise in few,

But those few notes that I with much delight

Lines 9–12

Do sing, are purpose and not passing vaunt;

They breathe the truth, and therefore stand they sure:

The foolish have got tongues; and now, alas,

I see that all things are not good as they were.

Lines 13–14 (the couplet)

But,—what?—since thou dost spare my serious rhymes,

And dost allow the flatterers’ pens to play,

I find thy favour doth to others move,

And yet I chide not when thy heart looks that way.