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Sonnet 84: Who Is It That Says Most, Which Can Say More, By: William Shakespeare

October 12, 2026 by Editors

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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.

Read all of William Shakespeare's poems · About William Shakespeare

More by William Shakespeare

  • Sonnet 85: My Tongue-tied Muse In Manners Holds Her Still
  • Sonnet 86: Was It The Proud Full Sail Of His Great Verse
  • Sonnet 88: When Thou Shalt Be Dispos'd To Set Me Light
  • Sonnet 89: Say That Thou Didst Forsake Me For Some Fault
  • Sonnet 90: Then Hate Me When Thou Wilt; If Ever, Now

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