Sonnet 70 Lyrics
For slander's mark was ever yet the fair;
The ornament of beauty is suspect,
A crow that flies in heaven's sweetest air.
So thou be good, slander doth but approve
Thy worth the greater, being wooed of time;
For canker vice the sweetest buds doth love,
And thou present'st a pure unstained prime.
Thou hast passed by the ambush of young days
Either not assailed, or victor being charged;
Yet this thy praise cannot be so thy praise,
To tie up envy, evermore enlarged,
If some suspect of ill masked not thy show,
Then thou alone kingdoms of hearts shouldst owe.
About
Text from Sonnet 70 in the 1609 Quarto.
This sonnet is part of the sequence dedicated to the “Fair Youth”. This differs in mood and argument from some previous sonnets that have praised the young man whose beauty generated insecurity, jealousy and admiration in the Bard.
It explores the subject of beauty, and the gossip and envy it stimulates in others. Beautiful people, Shakespeare asserts, will always be the subject of criticism and lies, just because of their attractiveness. These ill-meaning critics should be disregarded. The young man deserves praise for his strength and capacity to ignore them.
About Sonnets
A sonnet is a poem which expresses a thought or idea and develops it, often cleverly and wittily.
The sonnet genre is often, although not always, about ideals or hypothetical situations. It reaches back to the Medieval Romances, where a woman is loved and idealised by a worshipping admirer. For example, Sir Philip Sydney in the Astrophil and Stella sonnet sequence wrote in this mode. Poems were circulated within groups of educated intellectuals and they did not necessarily reflect the poet’s true emotions, but were a form of intellectual showing-off. This may not have been true of all; it is a matter of academic debate today. It is generally believed, however, that Shakespeare’s sonnets were autobiographical, though some dispute this.
BBC Podcast, Melvyn Bragg, “In Our Time” Shakespeare’s Sonnets
Sonnets are made up of fourteen lines, each being ten syllables long. Its rhymes are arranged according to one of the following schemes:
• Italian, where eight lines consisting of two quatrains make up the first section of the sonnet, called an octave. This section will explore a problem or an idea. It is followed by the next section of six lines called a sestet, that forms the ‘answer’ or a counter-view. This style of sonnet is also sometimes called a Petrarchan sonnet.
• English, which comprises three quatrains, making twelve lines in total, followed by a rhyming couplet. They too explore an idea. The ‘answer’ or resolution comes in the final couplet. Shakespeare’s sonnets follow this pattern. Edmund Spenser’s sonnets are a variant.
At the break in the sonnet — in Italian after the first eight lines, in English after twelve lines — there is a ‘turn’ or volta, after which there will be a change or new perspective on the preceding idea.
Language
The metre is iambic pentameter, that is five pairs of stressed and unstressed syllables to the line. The effect is elegant and rhythmic, and conveys an impression of dignity and seriousness. Shakespeare’s sonnets follow this pattern.
Rhyme Scheme
The rhyming pattern comprises three sets of four lines, forming quatrains, followed by a closed rhyming couplet.
In Sonnet 70 it forms ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG. This is typical of Shakespeare’s compositions.
See Don Paterson – Reading Shakespeare’s Sonnets, Faber & Faber, 2012
Helen Vendler The Art of Shakespeare’s Sonnets Harvard University Press
Shakespeare’s Sonnets with Three Hundred Years of Commentary, Associated University Press 2007
BBC Podcast, Melvyn Bragg, “In Our Time” Shakespeare’s Sonnets
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Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
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