Sonnet 66 — "Tired with all these" (1609)¶

Author: William Shakespeare
Type: Poetry · Sonnet
Published: 1609, Shakespeare's Sonnets
Copyright: Public domain
Era/Period: WH Era 2 — Elizabethan / Jacobean England; censorship and power
ELA Standards: 9-10.R.7 · 9-10.R.8 · 9-10.R.9
WH Standards: WH.6_12.3 · WH.6_12.4
Studio: WH-04 · One Idea, 130 Years of War — pairs with The Communist Manifesto

Studio 2 (WH-02) · The Rights We Wrote Down

Pairs with: Magna Carta (1215) · Level: Maverick

When people write down their rights, what changes — and what doesn't? — A list of injustices — including "art made tongue-tied by authority." Which of these would a written charter of rights actually fix?

See the WH-02 Literature Lens.

What This Poem Is About¶

A list of everything wrong with the world, line after line beginning with "And": talented people born poor, worthless people dressed in finery, honor given to the wrong people, strength ruined by weak rulers — and "art made tongue-tied by authority," art silenced by those in power. The speaker is so tired of it all he wishes for death — except that dying would leave his love alone.

Read It¶

Public domain — full text, as printed in 1609.

Tired with all these, for restful death I cry:
As to behold desert a beggar born,
And needy nothing trimm’d in jollity,
And purest faith unhappily forsworn,
And gilded honour shamefully misplac’d,
And maiden virtue rudely strumpeted,
And right perfection wrongfully disgrac’d,
And strength by limping sway disabled
And art made tongue-tied by authority,
And folly, doctor-like, controlling skill,
And simple truth miscall’d simplicity,
And captive good attending captain ill:
Tir’d with all these, from these would I be gone,
Save that, to die, I leave my love alone.

— William Shakespeare, Sonnet 66, Shakespeare's Sonnets, 1609

Why It Matters¶

Shakespeare worked under censorship. Every play had to be licensed by a royal official, the Master of the Revels, who could cut anything that offended the crown — as happened to the deposition scene in Richard II. "Art made tongue-tied by authority" is a line from a writer who knew exactly what it meant to be silenced. The sonnet's list of injustices sounds strikingly modern.

The Essential Question — Can one document change the world — and if so, how?¶

Sonnet 66 asks the dark side of the studio's question: if words can change the world, why do people in power work so hard to silence them? Ask: what does censorship reveal about how powerful people believe words work? Compare with England in 1819 — another list of injustices — and with the censored scene in Richard II.

ELA Standards Connection¶

Standard	Connection
9-10.R.7	Anaphora (repeating "And" to begin lines). What effect does the relentless list create?
9-10.R.8	The turn in the couplet: from despair to the one reason to stay.
9-10.R.9	The sonnet as an argument: twelve pieces of evidence that the world is unjust.

WH.6_12.3 + Era 2 — Political systems: royal censorship and who controlled what could be said.

WH.6_12.4 — Social conditions: merit vs. birth — "desert a beggar born."

Key Vocabulary¶

Desert — here: a person who deserves reward (say it like "dessert")
Forsworn — betrayed; a promise broken
Strumpeted — dishonored, slandered
Tongue-tied by authority — silenced by those in power — censorship
Limping sway — weak, incompetent rule

Studio Ideas¶

Censorship — Connect "art made tongue-tied by authority" to the censored Richard II scene. What were the authorities afraid of?
Two lists — Compare Sonnet 66 with Shelley's England in 1819. Same complaints, 200 years apart?
Your list — Write twelve lines beginning with "And" about injustices you see today. Then write the couplet.