Sonnet 69

Aggiornato

Shakespeare. Sonnet 1

«Those parts of thee that the world’s eye doth view
Want nothing that the thought of hearts can mend». 

Although the youth’s enemies praise his appearance, they all but slander him in their private meetings.

Sonnet 69
Read and listen

Those parts of thee that the world’s eye doth view
Want nothing that the thought of hearts can mend;
All tongues, the voice of souls, give thee that due,
Uttering bare truth, even so as foes commend.
Thy outward thus with outward praise is crown’d;
But those same tongues that give thee so thine own
In other accents do this praise confound
By seeing farther than the eye hath shown.
They look into the beauty of thy mind,
And that, in guess, they measure by thy deeds;
Then, churls, their thoughts, although their eyes were kind,
To thy fair flower add the rank smell of weeds:
But why thy odour matcheth not thy show,
The solve is this, that thou dost common grow.

»»» Sonnets introduction
»»» Sonnets complete list

Contrasting the youth’s outward beauty — “Those parts of thee that the world’s eye doth view” — to his deeds, the poet, in a rare display of independence, criticizes his young friend. His argument is well-founded: Because the youth associates with these reckless and wasteful men who slander him behind his back, he must assume their vices.

Recalling Sonnet 54, in which the poet discusses the beauty and sweet odor of roses, the poet asks the youth why he no longer has the rose’s sweet smell. Surprisingly, his own answer is curt and unsympathetic: “But why thy odor matcheth not thy show, / The soil is this, that thou dost common grow.” Because the youth associates with disreputable persons, he is becoming disreputable himself, more like a smelly weed than a rose.

««« Sonnet 68
»»» Sonnet 70

Credits

English audio from YouTube Channel Socratica

Summary from Cliffsnotes.com

»»» Sonnets introduction
»»» Sonnets complete list

PirandelloWeb