Sonnet 71
No longer mourn for me when I am dead
mortality
grief
selflessness
memory
No longer mourn for me when I am dead
Then you shall hear the surly sullen bell
Give warning to the world that I am fled
From this vile world, with vilest worms to dwell:
Nay, if you read this line, remember not
The hand that writ it; for I love you so
That I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot
If thinking on me then should make you woe.
O, if, I say, you look upon this verse
When I perhaps compounded am with clay,
Do not so much as my poor name rehearse.
But let your love even with my life decay,
Lest the wise world should look into your moan
And mock you with me after I am gone.
What It Means
Shakespeare tells the young man not to grieve when he dies. In fact, forget him quickly. Don't let the world see you mourn a dead person — it would look bad. Move on. This is partly genuine unselfishness and partly a way of saying: I know your affection for me carries a social cost, and I release you from it. The self-erasure is complete: don't even mention his name if it would hurt the young man.
Context
Part of the Fair Youth sequence. Sonnets 71–74 form a group meditating on Shakespeare's own death and what should be remembered of him.
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