O, for my sake do you with Fortune chide,
The guilty goddess of my harmful deeds,
That did not better for my life provide
Than public means which public manners breeds.
Thence comes it that my name receives a brand,
And almost thence my nature is subdued
To what it works in, like the dyer's hand:
Pity me then and wish I were renew'd;
Whilst, like a willing patient, I will drink
Potions of eisel 'gainst my strong infection
No bitterness that I will bitter think,
Nor double penance, to correct correction.
Pity me then, dear friend, and I assure ye
Even that your pity is enough to cure me.
Commentators since the late eighteenth century, starting with Edmund Malone, have noticed that this sonnet seems to refer directly to Shakespeare's career in the theatre. Whether this is indeed the case cannot be proven, but it is impossible not to be curious about the life of one so famous, and to speculate on the possible direction of these references. The poem by John Davies of Hereford, printed at the end of this page, seems to confirm that being associated with the playhouse brings a stain to the character in the common view. The Puritans certainly believed so, and maintained continuous opposition to the theatres. They believed them to be the breeding gound of all manner of sin and viciousness
Pity me then and wish I were renew'd; Whilst, like a willing patient, I will drink Potions of eisel 'gainst my strong infection No bitterness that I will bitter think, Nor double penance, to correct correction. Pity me then, dear friend, and I assure ye Even that your pity is enough to cure me. ~
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
This sonnet continues the poet's defence of his conduct, which on the surface looks bad. It has brought him shame and disgrace and a swerving away from his beloved. However he decides to put most, if not all the blame upon fortune, which has not provided him with noble birth or wealth, with the result that he must ply his wares in the market place. shakespeares-sonnets.com