Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SONNET: 94, by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SONNET: 94, by         Recitation     Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: They that have power to hurt, and will do none
Last Line: Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.
Variant Title(s): "the Life Without Passion;""they That Have Pow'r To Hut And Will Do None"";
Subject(s): Gays & Lesbians; Hypocrisy; Sin; Villains In Literature; Homoeroticism; Lesbians; Gay Women; Gay Men


They that have power to hurt and will do none,
That do not do the thing they most do show,
Who, moving others, are themselves as stone,
Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow,
They rightly do inherit heaven's graces
And husband nature's riches from expense;
They are the lords and owners of their faces,
Others but stewards of their excellence.
The summer's flower is to the summer sweet,
Though to itself it only live and die,
But if that flower with base infection meet,
The basest weed outbraves his dignity:
For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds;
Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.





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