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Sonnet XCIV

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) · 1609

iambic pentameter · English sonnet · 14 lines · from The Sonnets

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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.

Words in this poem

unmoved a.
Not moved; fixed; firm; unshaken; calm; apathetic.
rightly adv.
Straightly; directly; in front. [AS. richtlice.]
fester v. i.
To generate pus; to become imflamed and suppurate; as, a sore or a wound festers. [OE. festern, fr. fester, n.; or fr. OF. festrir, fr. festre, n. See Fester, n.]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Sonnet XCIV 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 XCIV, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-94.html, id L00112.

Form and metre

Sonnet XCIV 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 88%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.

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. 1 ABABCDCDEFEFGG noneA · showB · stoneA · slowB · gracesC · expenseD · facesC · excellenceD · sweetE · dieF · meetE · dignityF · deedsG · weedsG
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.

LineSyl.Stress
They that have power to hurt, and will do none,10···/······
That do not do the thing they most do show,10··········
Who, moving others, are themselves as stone,10·/˘/˘·˘/··
Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow;10˘/˘···˘/˘·
They rightly do inherit heaven’s graces,11·/˘·˘/˘/˘/˘
And husband nature’s riches from expense;10·/˘/˘/˘·˘/
They are the lords and owners of their faces,11·····/˘··/˘
Others, but stewards of their excellence.10/˘·/˘··/˘˘
The summer’s flower is to the summer sweet,10·/˘/···/˘·
Though to itself, it only live and die,10··˘/·/˘···
But if that flower with base infection meet,10···/··˘/˘·
The basest weed outbraves his dignity:10·······/˘˘
For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds;10·/˘··/˘···
Lilies that fester, smell far worse than weeds.10/˘·/˘·····

On this poem

"In 93 Shakspere has described his friend as able to show a sweet face while harbouring false thoughts; the subject is enlarged on in the present sonnet. They who can hold their passions in check, who can seem loving yet keep a cool heart, who move pas- sion in others, yet are cold and unmoved themselves — they rightly inherit from heaven large gifts, for they husband them ; whereas passionate intemperate natures squander their endowments ; those who can assume this or that semblance as they see reason are the masters and owners of their faces ; others have no property in such excellences as they possess, but hold them for the advantage of the prudent self-contained persons. True, these self-contained persons may seem to lack generosity ; but, then, without making voluntary gifts they give inevitably, even as the summer's flower is sweet to the summer, though it live and die only to itself. Yet, let such an one beware of corruption, which makes odious the sweetest flowers " (Dowden). 2-8. That do not, etc. Tyler compares what Hamlet says to Horatio (iii. 2. 70-76) : — " Thou hast been As one, in suffering all, that suffers nothing," etc. For the corruption of such a character, Tyler refers to Angelo in M. for M.
Notes from the edition 5

Notes by William J. Rolfe, Shakespeare's Sonnets (New York, 1905), Internet Archive scan

  1. Line 4 Cold. The quarto has " could ; " corrected in the ed. of 1640.
  2. Line 6 Expense. Expenditure, waste. Cf. 129. 1 below.
  3. Line 8 Stewards. " And so responsible ; not lords and owners, hav- ing absolute possession " (Verity).
  4. Line 11 Base. Staunton conjectures "foul," and Walker "barest" for basest in the next line ; but I see no necessity for either change. Base is used very often by S. in the general sense of mean, bad, vile, etc. Cf. 33. 5, 34. 3, 74. 12, 141. 6, etc.
  5. Line 14 Lilies, etc. This line is found also in Edw. III. ii. 1, the passage being as follows : — ! A. spacious field of reasons could I urge Between his glory, daughter, and thy shame: That poison shows worst in a golden cup ; Dark night seems darker by the lightning flash; Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds; And every glory, that inclines to sin, The same is treble by the opposite." The scene is one that some critics ascribe to S. The play was first printed in 1596. See also on 142. 6 below. Fester — rot ; as in Hen. V. iv. 3. 88 and R. and J. iv. 3. 43. On the pas- sage, cf. 69. 12. Dowden compares with this sonnet T. N. hi. 4. 399 fol. : " But O how vile an idol," etc.

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