English poem
Sonnet 21: So is it not with me as with that Muse
So is it not with me as with that Muse, Stirr'd by a painted beauty to his verse, Who heaven itself for ornament doth use And every fair with his fair doth rehearse, Making a couplement of proud compare' With sun and moon, with earth and sea's rich gems, With April's first-born flowers, and all things rare, That heaven's air in this huge rondure hems. O! let me, true in love, but truly write, And then believe me, my love is as fair As any mother's child, though not so bright As those gold candles fix'd in heaven's air: Let them say more that like of hearsay well; I will not praise that purpose not to sell.
More by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
- Sonnet 19: Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws
- Sonnet 1: From fairest creatures we desire increase
- Sonnet 20: A woman's face with nature's own hand painted
- Sonnet 22: My glass shall not persuade me I am old
- Sonnet 23: As an unperfect actor on the stage
- Sonnet 24: Mine eye hath play'd the painter and hath stell'd
- Sonnet 25: Let those who are in favour with their stars