By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Sonnet 32 sees Shakespeare musing upon his own death. What if he were to die, and later poets come along with better poems for the Fair Youth? This is the starting-point of our analysis of Sonnet 32, in which the Bard discusses love poetry in a self-conscious way.
If thou survive my well-contented day,
When that churl Death my bones with dust shall cover
And shalt by fortune once more re-survey
These poor rude lines of thy deceased lover,
Compare them with the bett’ring of the time,
And though they be outstripped by every pen,
Reserve them for my love, not for their rhyme,
Exceeded by the height of happier men.
O! then vouchsafe me but this loving thought: