Sonnet 95
How sweet and lovely dost thou make the shame
shame
beauty
reputation
corruption
How sweet and lovely dost thou make the shame
Which, like a canker in the fragrant rose,
Doth spot the beauty of thy budding name!
O, in what sweets dost thou thy sins enclose!
That tongue that tells the story of thy days,
Making lascivious comments on thy sport,
Cannot dispraise but in a kind of praise;
Naming thy name blesses an ill report.
O, what a mansion have those vices got
Which for their habitation chose out thee,
Where beauty's veil doth cover every blot,
And all things turn to fair that eyes can see!
Take heed, dear heart, of this large privilege;
The hardest knife ill-used doth lose his edge.
What It Means
The young man has apparently done something shameful, but his beauty makes the shame itself beautiful. The canker-worm lives in the sweetest bud. Shakespeare names the problem clearly: stories are going around. The young man is the subject of gossip about his vices. His beauty gives him a free pass that shouldn't be free. Shakespeare is not quite warning him — he's too in love to be stern — but the caution is there.
Context
Part of the Fair Youth sequence. Another sonnet in which Shakespeare tries to reconcile his admiration with genuine criticism of the young man's behavior.
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