Sonnet 115
Those lines that I before have writ do lie,
love
growth
time
truth
Those lines that I before have writ do lie,
Even those that said I could not love you dearer:
Yet then my judgment knew no reason why
My most full flame should afterwards burn clearer.
But reckoning time, whose million'd accidents
Creep in 'twixt vows and change decrees of kings,
Tan sacred beauty, blunt the sharp'st intents,
Divert strong minds to the course of altering things;
Alas, why, fearing of time's tyranny,
Might I not then say 'Now I love you best,'
When I was certain o'er incertainty,
Crowning the present, doubting of the rest?
Love is a babe; then might I not say so,
To give full growth to that which still doth grow?
What It Means
Earlier lines claimed love was at its peak. But love is bigger now than it was then. It was a lie by omission — not malicious, but because at the time Shakespeare couldn't know how much more it would grow. Love changes daily. 'Love is a babe' — like an infant, it grows; to say it was 'full-grown' earlier was premature.
Context
Part of the Fair Youth sequence.
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