Sonnet 84
Who is it that says most? which can say more
praise
flattery
truth
vanity
Who is it that says most? which can say more
Than this rich praise, that you alone are you?
In whose confine immured is the store
Which should example where your equal grew.
Lean penury within that pen doth dwell
That to his subject lends not some small glory;
But he that writes of you, if he can tell
That you are you, so dignifies his story,
Let him but copy what in you is writ,
Not making worse what nature made so clear,
And such a counterpart shall fame his wit,
Making his style admired every where.
You to your beauteous blessings add a curse,
Being fond on praise, which makes your praises worse.
What It Means
Whoever can simply say 'You are you' and nothing more will find that's enough. The young man is his own best description. Any excess of flattery detracts from the truth. But then Shakespeare concedes that the young man's love of hearing himself praised encourages poets to overdo it. He is partly responsible for the bad verse written about him, because he seems to like it.
Context
Part of the Rival Poet group (78–86). The accusation in the final couplet — that the young man enjoys flattery — is unusually direct.
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