Sonnet 91

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The first two stanzas of Sonnet 91 in the 1609 Quarto
Q1 Q2 Q3 C Some glory in their birth, some in their skill, Some in their wealth, some in their body’s force; Some in their garments, though new-fangled ill; Some in their hawks and hounds, some in their horse; And every humour hath his adjunct pleasure, Wherein it finds a joy above the rest: But these particulars are not my measure; All these I better in one general best. Thy love is better than high birth to me, Richer than wealth, prouder than garments’ cost, Of more delight than hawks or horses be; And having thee, of all men’s pride I boast: Wretched in this alone, that thou mayst take All this away and me most wretched make. 4 8 12 14 —William Shakespeare[1]

Sonnet 91 is one of

sequence, in which the poet expresses his love towards a young man.

Paraphrase

Some people delight in their noble ancestry; some in their abilities; some in their wealth or strength; some in their hunting animals. But I don't take joy in any of these things because I have something even better: To me your love is better than noble ancestry, wealth, expensive clothes or hunting animals. And as long as I have you, I feel prouder than anyone else. But I am also cursed in only a single thing: that if you stop loving me, I will become the most wretched person.

Structure

Sonnet 91 is an English or Shakespearean sonnet. The English sonnet has three quatrains, followed by a final rhyming couplet. It follows the typical rhyme scheme of the form, ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, and is composed in iambic pentameter, a type of poetic metre based on five pairs of metrically weak/strong syllabic positions. The 11th line exemplifies a regular iambic pentameter:

×   /    × /      ×   /    ×    /  ×   / 
Of more delight than hawks and horses be; (91.11)

/ = ictus, a metrically strong syllabic position. × = nonictus.

The sonnet abounds with metrical variants. Lines 5 and 7 have a final extrametrical syllable or feminine ending. Line 2 exhibits both an initial and a mid-line reversal, two of at least nine such reversals in the poem.

 /   ×    ×    /       /   ×    ×    / ×     / 
Some in their wealth, some in their bodies' force, (91.2)

Both lines 8 and 9 may be scanned to exhibit the rightward movement of the third ictus (resulting in a four-position figure, × × / /, sometimes referred to as a minor ionic):

×     /   ×  /  ×  ×  /    /   ×   / 
All these I better in one general best.

  ×  /   ×   /  ×    ×   /    /     ×  / 
Thy love is better than high birth to me, (91.8-9)

Interpretations

• Peter Barkworth, for the 2002 compilation album, When Love Speaks (EMI Classics)

Notes

References

First edition and facsimile

• Shakespeare, William (1609). Shake-speares Sonnets: Never Before Imprinted. London: Thomas Thorpe.
• OCLC 458829162
  .

Variorum editions

• OCLC 234756
  .
• OCLC 6028485. — Volume I and Volume II at the Internet Archive

Modern critical editions

• Atkins, Carl D., ed. (2007). Shakespeare's Sonnets: With Three Hundred Years of Commentary. Madison:
  OCLC 86090499
  .
• OCLC 2968040
  .
• Burrow, Colin, ed. (2002). The Complete Sonnets and Poems.
  OCLC 48532938
  .
• OCLC 755065951. — 1st edition at the Internet Archive
• OCLC 32272082
  .
• OCLC 15018446
  .
• Mowat, Barbara A.; Werstine, Paul, eds. (2006). Shakespeare's Sonnets & Poems.
  OCLC 64594469
  .
• OCLC 46683809
  .
• OCLC 36806589
  .