Theme: After I'm Dead
Content: Follows on the theme from Sonnet 71 but broadens it by telling his subject to not make
him out to be anything more than what he was after he's gone. Again betrays the low self-esteem and modesty the author refers to in many other sonnets. He knows his own talent but has no social standing nor fame.
O, lest the world should task you
to recite
What merit lived in
me that you
should love,
- "If anyone asked what it was you saw in me".
- you and me and love are the most frequently used words in this sonnet again emphasising the central matter of this sonnet.
After my death,
dear love, forget
me quite;
For you
in me can nothing
worthy prove
- "Just forget me so you don’t have to answer because I had no worth."
- Alliteration of death and dear provides counterpoint.
Unless you
would devise some virtuous lie
To do more
for me than mine
own desert,
And hang more
praise upon deceased I
Than niggard truth would
willingly
impart.
- "The truth is I wasn’t worth much."
- Alliteration in more…me…mine…more and would willingly
O, lest your true love
may seem false in this,
That you
for love speak
well of me untrue,
- "You will only compromise yourself if you try and defend me."
My name be
buried
where my body
is,
And live no more
to shame nor me nor you;
- "The way I feel now I’d rather be forgotten when I die."
- Alliteration in be buried…body.
- Emphasis on negatives in 12.: no more...nor...nor.
For I am shamed by that which I bring forth,
And so should you,
to love things
nothing worth.
- Neatly summarises the simple theme of the whole sonnet.
Critical text © NigelDavies.home@Virgin.net