Sonnet Xxi

Sonnet XXI

English Classic

So is it not with me as with that Muse,

Stirred by a painted beauty to his verse,

Who heaven itself for ornament doth use

And every fair with his fair dothrehearse,

Making a couplement of proud compare

With sun and moon, with earth and sea's rich gems,

With April's first-born flowers, and all things rare,

That heaven's air in this huge rondurehems.

O! let me, true in love, but truly write, And then believe me, my love is as fair

As any mother's child, though not so bright

As those gold candles fixed in heaven's air:
Let them say morethat like of hearsay well;
  
I will not praise that purpose not to sell.
Sonnet XXI English Modern

It is not so, with me, as it is with that poet, who is Motivated by only a show of beauty tocompose, and, Who uses everything in heaven to decorate his poetry, And who speaks, superficially, of every fair thing he knows of, in comparison with his fair subject,
Making similes of overblowncomparison, With the Sun and Moon, with the gems of earth and sea, With April's first and loveliest flowers, and anything and everything that's rare,
That he can think of, or see, in the whole wideworld;-Oh, let me, my Muse, since I'm true in my love, just write honestly -And then you, my addressee, can believe me that my love, and you that I love, are as beautiful As any
mother's child, seenthrough her eyes, although perhaps not really so brilliant As all the stars in the sky.
Let other poets go on and on with cliché, if they like it, but I won't write to that end, in that way, not inorder
to gain patronage by selling out.



Glossary

Muse = poet.

Stirred = motivated, inspired.

Painted = made up.
In both senses, with reference to a false appearance, and also tosomething that's just made up, not sincere.

Ornament = decoration, adornment, furnishing.
Reference to a poet "decorating" his verse to make it look and sound better.

Proud = puffed up,...