Sonnet 40: Take all my loves, my love, yea, take them all

Portrait of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare 1564–1616
40The Sonnets

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 blamed, if thou thy self deceivest By wilful taste of what thy self refusest. I do forgive thy robbery, gentle thief, Although thou steal thee all my poverty; And yet love knows it is a greater grief To 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.

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k rachel108 words
  1. k rachel

    I think that this poem tells about two lovers, one of which is ready to move on and find someone new, and one of which must accept the others departure. The first 4 lines explain how they shared everything together and lived in disclosed love, and then how one lover always had something they didn't share, like a secret, and therefore moved on. So the other lover feels deceived and cheated, but forgives and explains that although they feel robbed of love and trust, its better to heal love with love than to hate and become enemies. that was my interpretation at least, i may be completely off.

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