Sonnet 94

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<	Sonnet 94	>
They that have power to hurt and will do none, That do not do the thing they most do show, Who, moving others, are themselves as stone, Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow, They rightly do inherit heaven's graces And husband nature's riches from expense; They are the lords and owners of their faces, Others but stewards of their excellence. The summer's flower is to the summer sweet, Though to itself it only live and die, But if that flower with base infection meet, The basest weed outbraves his dignity: For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds; Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.
–William Shakespeare

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Shakespeare's sonnets

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40
41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49	50
51	52	53	54	55	56	57	58	59	60
61	62	63	64	65	66	67	68	69	70
71	72	73	74	75	76	77	78	79	80
81	82	83	84	85	86	87	88	89	90
91	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	100
101	102	103	104	105	106	107	108	109	110
111	112	113	114	115	116	117	118	119	120
121	122	123	124	125	126	127	128	129	130
131	132	133	134	135	136	137	138	139	140
141	142	143	144	145	146	147	148	149	150
151	152	153	154

Sonnet 94 is one of 154 sonnets written by the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare. It's a member of the Fair Youth sequence, in which the poet expresses his love towards a young man.

[edit] Synopsis

Sonnet 94 is seen as being particularly difficult to interpret. Shakespeare describes a restrained and cold person who has the "power to hurt" but who does not exercise that power. The first two quatrains describe a person who is coldly detached and slow to temptation. This person, the speaker argues, is therefore more likely to inherit the gifts of heaven.

They rightly do inherit heaven's graces

And husband nature's riches from expense;

In the third quatrain, the sonnet then shifts abruptly to a description of a flower, which most scholars believe to be one of Shakespeare's patrons. Shakespeare describes the summer as treasuring the flower - "to the summer sweet", with the flower living unaware of its beauty "Though to itself it only live and die,". This quatrain serves as an attempted explanation for the patron's "unmoved, cold" nature to allow Shakespeare to continue loving him and give him peace of mind. However the speaker reluctantly admits that the young man is guilty of harmful deeds, a "base infection", and is therefore lower (smells worse) than weeds.