Shakespeare’s Sonnet #14: “Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck”

Sonnet 14

Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck,
And yet methinks I have astronomy;
But not to tell of good or evil luck,
Of plagues, of dearths, or seasons’ quality;
Nor can I fortune to brief minutes tell,
Pointing to each his thunder, rain and wind,
Or say with princes if it shall go well,
By oft predict that I in heaven find.
But from thine eyes my knowledge I derive,
And, constant stars, in them I read such art
As truth and beauty shall together thrive
If from thyself to store thou wouldst convert;
Or else of thee this I prognosticate:
Thy end is truth’s and beauty’s doom and date.

Simplified Modern English Translation

Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck,
I don’t examine the movements of the stars to make my judgments,

And yet methinks I have astronomy;
but, even so, I consider myself a very good astrologer;

But not to tell of good or evil luck,
but not to tell of good or bad luck,

Of plagues, of dearths, or seasons’ quality;
of plagues, of famines, or of good or bad harvests;

Nor can I fortune to brief minutes tell,
nor can I tell a person’s fortune down to the minute,

Pointing to each his thunder, rain and wind,
telling him of imminent danger or hard times,

Or say with princes if it shall go well,
or be commissioned by powerful patrons to read them their fortune

By oft predict that I in heaven find.
by making predictions based on what I see in the heavens.

But from thine eyes my knowledge I derive,
In fact, it is from your eyes that I derive my astrological powers.

And, constant stars, in them I read such art
And in those constant stars I make the following joyous prediction:

As truth and beauty shall together thrive
Truth and beauty will together thrive

If from thyself to store thou wouldst convert;
if you turn your attention away from yourself and concentrate on marrying and having children;

Or else of thee this I prognosticate:
otherwise I make this ominous prediction:

Thy end is truth’s and beauty’s doom and date.
 With your death comes the permanent death of the ideal combination of truth and beauty.

Reading of Sonnet 14

The images in the YouTube video are from an original 1609 edition of Shake-speares Sonnets held by the British Library.  It is one of only thirteen copies in existence.  Images courtesy of the Octavo Corporation.  

Text from Original 1609 Quarto

Transcription below courtesy of University of Virginia Library:

Not from the stars do I my iudgement plucke,
And yet me thinkes I haue Astronomy,
But not to tell of good, or euil lucke,
Of plagues, of dearths, or seasons quallity,
Nor can I fortune to breefe mynuits tell;
Pointing to each his thunder, raine and winde,
Or say with Princes if it shal go wel
By oft predict that I in heauen finde.
But from thine eies my knowledge I deriue,
And constant stars in them I read such art
As truth and beautie shal together thriue
If from thy selfe, to store thou wouldst conuert:
Or else of thee this I prognosticate,
Thy end is Truthes and Beauties doome and date.