Sonnet 69

Those parts of thee that the worlds eye doth view,

Want nothing that the thought of hearts can mend:

All toungs (the voice of soules) give thee that end,

Uttring bare truth, even so as foes Commend.

Thy outward thus with outward praise is crown'd,

But those same toungs that give thee so thine owne,

In other accents doe this praise confound

By seeing further than the eye hath showne.

They looke into the beauty of thy mind,

And that in guesse they measure by thy deeds,

Then churls their thoughts (although their eies were kind)

To thy faire flower ad the rancke smell of weeds,

But why thy odor matcheth not thy show,

The soyle is this, that thou doest common grow.

Commentary

Address to his beloved in which a certain criticism is intimated

Changes to the original text: beginning of line 5, 'their' changed to 'thy'; line 14, 'solye' changed to 'soyle'

In the first quatrain, the poet asserts that everybody, even his enemies, agree that his appearance lacks nothing that imagination might supply (want nothing that the thought of hearts can mend).

In the second quatrain, the poet observes that, nonetheless, the same people who commend his beloved's beauty, see beyond his appearance and change their tune (this praise confound).

In the third quatrain, the poet observes that these commentators see further than his appearance by examining his deeds, at which point, they find he stinks (rancke smell of weeds).

In the final couplet, the poet hazards a guess as to why this might be: his beloved grows too common.

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