Shakespeare Sonnet 72

‘O! lest the world should task you to recite’

Sep 9, 2008

The speaker/poet addresses his poem again, creating a drama about his death and advising the poem not to advertise the speaker/poet's merit after he has departed.

First Quatrain: “O! lest the world should task you to recite”

In Shakespeare sonnet 72, the speaker establishes a distinction between himself and his poems. He does not sanction the notion that his poetry will be a reflection of his own personal merit. He understands that as a flawed human being the art that results from his talent is greater than his idiosyncrasies.

He realizes that after the death of an artist, that artist’s stock often rises considerably, and he does not want that to happen to him. He wants his art to shine for itself, not because of some imagined superior state of the poet.

Second Quatrain: “Unless you would devise some virtuous lie”

The concocting of “some virtuous lie” would serve only to elevate the poet above his poetic productions. He knows that his poems deserve great adulation for they reflect “[his] own desert.” But to fawn over his personality and lavish “more praise” upon him after his death denigrates the truth that he has always aspired to dramatize and promote.

The speaker forms his request as “don’t fawn over me when I’m dead, unless you want to diminish my poetry.” As readers see repeatedly, this speaker plays with language structure to produce original discourses. He, therefore, is loath to have his productions vanquished by an emphasis on his personal life.

Third Quatrain: “O! lest your true love may seem false in this”

The speaker then provides further reasoning for keeping the emphasis on his works and not himself. The “true love” that he has consistently dramatized in his poem would appear “false in this.” This speaker feels that his life is quite humble and unassuming and in order to elevate his virtue, lies, or at best exaggerations, would have to be slipped into his eulogy.

He, therefore, requests that “[his] name be buried with [his body].” His flawed human personality will, after his death and burial, no longer be present to “shame” his muse, his talent, or even other people. He insists that only his poetry be allowed to shine, without his flawed biography to co-opt it.

The Couplet: “For I am sham’d by that which I bring forth”

The speaker admits that he has committed shames in his life, and if much is made of him after his death, his poetry will suffer in value.

Commentary

Most readers are aware of the controversy over the real writer of the Shakespeare works, both plays and sonnets. Many scholars and critics are convinced that Edward de Vere is the writer who actually composed the works attributed to William Shakespeare.

This sonnet is further support of that notion, that de Vere was using the nom de plume, William Shakespeare. Its theme demonstrates the desire of the sonnet’s speaker to have his works speak for themselves and not be influenced by the poet’s name.

The copyright of the article Shakespeare Sonnet 72 in British Poetry is owned by Linda Sue Grimes. Permission to republish Shakespeare Sonnet 72 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.