Shakespeare's Sonnet 80

03/11/2024 21 min

Listen "Shakespeare's Sonnet 80"

Episode Synopsis

Shakespeare continues to talk about his rivalry with an other poet whilst using an analogy about ships!

Sonnet 80
O! 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 wracked, 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.