Note 86:A — Chapter V · (continued 2)
Reading edition
That Shakspeare himself entertained a confident hope of the immortality of his minor poems, the following, out of many instances, will sufficiently prove:—
"So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee."
Son. 18.
"Yet, do thy worst, old Time: despite thy wrong, My love shall in my verse ever live young."
Son. 19.
"Not marble, nor the gilded monuments Of princes, shall out-live this powerful rhime."
Son. 54.
"Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth, And delves the parallels in beauty's brow; Feeds on the rarities of nature's truth, And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow: And yet, to times in hope, my verse shall stand, Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand."
Son. 60.
——— "Confounding age ——— ——— shall never cut from memory My sweet love's beauty, though my lover's life. His beauty shall in these black lines be seen, And they shall live, and he in them still green."
Son. 63.
"When all the breathers of this world are dead; You still shall live (such virtue hath my pen), Where breath most breathes,—even in the mouths of men."
Son. 81.