Shakespeare Sonnet 39 - O, how thy worth with manners may I sing

SONNET 39

O, how thy worth with manners may I sing,
When thou art all the better part of me?
What can mine own praise to mine own self bring?
And what is't but mine own when I praise thee?
Even for this let us divided live,
And our dear love lose name of single one,
That by this separation I may give
That due to thee which thou deservest alone.
O absence, what a torment wouldst thou prove,
Were it not thy sour leisure gave sweet leave
To entertain the time with thoughts of love,
Which time and thoughts so sweetly doth deceive,
And that thou teachest how to make one twain,
By praising him here who doth hence remain.

Paraphrase and Analysis of Sonnet 39

______

Even More...

Stratford School Days: What Did Shakespeare Read?

Games in Shakespeare's England [A-L]

Games in Shakespeare's England [M-Z]

An Elizabethan Christmas

Clothing in Elizabethan England

Queen Elizabeth: Shakespeare's Patron

King James I of England: Shakespeare's Patron

The Earl of Southampton: Shakespeare's Patron

Going to a Play in Elizabethan London

Ben Jonson and the Decline of the Drama

Publishing in Elizabethan England

Shakespeare's Audience

Religion in Shakespeare's England

Alchemy and Astrology in Shakespeare's Day

Entertainment in Elizabethan England

London's First Public Playhouse

Shakespeare Hits the Big Time

More to Explore

Introduction to Shakespeare's Sonnets

Shakespearean Sonnet Style

Six Theories About Shakespeare's Sonnets

How to Analyze a Shakespearean Sonnet

The Rules of Shakespearean Sonnets

Shakespeare's Treatment of Love

Shakespeare's Most Famous Love Quotes

Shakespeare's Sonnets: Q & A

Are Shakespeare's Sonnets Autobiographical?

Shakespeare's Greatest Love Poem

Shakespeare and the Earl of Southampton

The Order of the Sonnets

The Date of the Sonnets

Petrarch's Influence on Shakespeare

Themes in Shakespeare's Sonnets

Who was Mr. W. H.?

Are the Sonnets Addressed to Two Persons?

Who was The Rival Poet?

_____

Points to Ponder ... "In the Sonnets we may read of the poet's intense hopes and fears regarding his fate, and we learn of his all-consuming desire for immortality. Begin as he may with his theme, he almost invariably merges into allegory, and represents himself as the contestant of death. Bodily death he does not fear: oblivion he dreads. He therefore argues incessantly on the course he shall pursue to defy the ravages of time and prevent the loss of reputation. He may have the applause of the day (on the stage); or he may command lasting renown (by his pen). His "fair friend," his "better angel," bids him to seek immortality; his "dark" mistress, the alluring woman with the "mourning eyes," tempts him to delights of the present. The two series of poems are almost wholly allegorical and antithetical." (John Cuming Walters. The Mystery of Shakespeare's Sonnets, p.112)

_____