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. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FROM THE AGES WITH A SMILE by EDGAR LEE MASTERS CAELICA: 100 by FULKE GREVILLE SONNET: WRITTEN ON THE DAY THAT MR. LEIGH HUNT LEFT PRISON by JOHN KEATS DIVINA COMMEDIA (INTRODUCTORY POEMS): 1 by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW TO MY ANTENOR, MARCH 16, 1661/2 by KATHERINE PHILIPS WALT WHITMAN by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) THE LITTLE PLANT by KATE LOUISE BROWN SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE: 31 by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING GLIMPSES OF ITALY: 3. OLD STORY-TELLING by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON |