Return to Shakespeare's Sonnet 81 |
1-2.
Or I shall live your epitaph to make, / Or you survive when I in earth am rotten: i.e., no matter whether I live to write your epitaph or you live on when I am rotten in the earth.
3.
From hence your memory death cannot take: i.e., from this time forth, the death (of either of us) cannot erase the memory of you from the world.
4.
in me each part: every part of my body and every quality of mine; i.e., all that I am.
5.
Your name from hence immortal life shall have: i.e., from this time on, you will be famous throughout time.
7.
common grave: i.e., ordinary grave; grave shared in common with millions of others who have been forgotten.
8.
entombed in men's eyes: i.e., though dead, your image will live on in the minds of men yet to be born.
9.
gentle verse: noble poetry.
11.
tongues to be: voices in the future. rehearse: recite.
12.
breathers: living people. this world: i.e., the world of today.
13.
virtue: worth; power.