Sonnet XL
Take all my loves, my love, yea take them all;What hast thou then more than thou hadst before?No love, my love, that thou mayst true love call;All mine was thine, before thou hadst this more.Then, if for my love, thou my love receivest,I cannot blame thee, for my love thou usest;But yet be blam’d, if thou thyself deceivestBy wilful taste of what thyself refusest.I do forgive thy robbery, gentle thief,Although thou steal thee all my poverty:And yet, love knows it is a greater griefTo bear love’s wrong, than hate’s known injury.Lascivious grace, in whom all ill well shows,Kill me with spites yet we must not be foes.
Words in this poem
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet XL is in the public domain. This text is taken from Shakespeare's Sonnets, Project Gutenberg ebook #1041; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Shakespeare, Sonnet XL, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-40.html, id L00058.
Form and metre
Sonnet XL is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCDEFEFGG, the pattern of the English sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 14% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other English sonnets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABCDCDEFEFGG allA · beforeB · callA · moreB · receivestC · usestD · deceivestC · refusestD · thiefE · povertyF · griefE · injuryF · showsG · foesG
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Take all my loves, my love, yea take them all; | 10 | ·········· |
| What hast thou then more than thou hadst before? | 10 | ·········· |
| No love, my love, that thou mayst true love call; | 10 | ·········· |
| All mine was thine, before thou hadst this more. | 10 | ·········· |
| Then, if for my love, thou my love receivest, | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| I cannot blame thee, for my love thou usest; | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| But yet be blam’d, if thou thyself deceivest | 11 | ······˘/˘/˘ |
| By wilful taste of what thyself refusest. | 11 | ······˘/˘/˘ |
| I do forgive thy robbery, gentle thief, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘/˘· |
| Although thou steal thee all my poverty: | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| And yet, love knows it is a greater grief | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| To bear love’s wrong, than hate’s known injury. | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| Lascivious grace, in whom all ill well shows, | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| Kill me with spites yet we must not be foes. | 10 | ·········· |
On this poem
Notes from the edition 3
Notes by William J. Rolfe, Shakespeare's Sonnets (New York, 1905), Internet Archive scan
- Line 5 Then if for love of me you receive her whom I love, I can- not blame you for using her. For in 6 = because ; as in 54. 9 and 106. II below. On the passage, cf. I lien. VI. v. 3. 77, Rich III. i. 2. 228, and T. A. ii. 1. S2.
- Line 7 "Yet vou are to blame if you deceive yourself by an un- lawful union while you refuse loyal wedlock" (Dowden). The quarto has " this selfe " for thyself; corrected by ( iildon. Wynd- ham retains "this self," as referring to "the identity of himself and his friend, stated in 39. 1-4 and re-stated in 42. 13, 14." He also quotes 133.!) and 135. 14. He takes 'what thyself re/usest to mean "my love for you."
- Line 10 All my poverty. The poor little that I have. Cf 103. I below. Thee is the "ethical dative." IJ2 Notes
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