Sonnet 29

When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes[1] 

                                        

I all alone beweep[2] my outcast state,

                                        

And trouble deaf heav'n with my bootless[3] cries,

                                        

And look upon myself, and curse my fate,

                                        

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,   (5)

                                        

Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,

                                        

Desiring this man’s art, and that man’s scope[4],

                                        

With what I most enjoy contented least;  

                                        

Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,

                                        

Haply[5] I think on thee, and then my state,  (10)

                                        

Like to the lark[6] at break of day arising

                                        

From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate.

                                        

  For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings

                                        

  That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

a

b

a

b

c

d

c

d

e

f*

e

f

g

g

*Yes, F rhymes with B. Shakespeare did not nail it every time.

[1] synecdoche: a literary device in which a part represents a whole or vice versa. Helen of Troy was “the face that launched a thousand ships / And burnt the topless towers of Ilium.”

[2] beweep: cry

[3] bootless: futile, useless

[4] scope: prospects; opportunities

[5] haply: by chance, on the spur of the moment

[6] lark: a bird that is active in the morning