Shakespeare’s Sonnet #31: “Thy bosom is endeared with all hearts”

Sonnet 31

Thy bosom is endearèd with all hearts
Which I by lacking have supposèd dead,
And there reigns love and all love’s loving parts,
And all those friends which I thought burièd.
How many a holy and obsequious tear
Hath dear religious love stol’n from mine eye,
As interest of the dead, which now appear
But things removed that hidden in thee lie.
Thou art the grave where buried love doth live,
Hung with the trophies of my lovers gone,
Who all their parts of me to thee did give;
That due of many now is thine alone.
Their images I loved I view in thee,
And thou, all they, hast all the all of me.

Simplified Modern English Translation

Thy bosom is endearèd with all hearts
Your bosom is made precious by containing all the hearts

Which I by lacking have supposèd dead,
which I, no longer possessing, have supposed dead,

And there reigns love and all love’s loving parts,
and within your bosom reigns, not only my love for you,

And all those friends which I thought burièd.
but all the love for former friends that I thought gone forever.

How many a holy and obsequious tear
How many time have I cried 

Hath dear religious love stol’n from mine eye,
in religious lamentation for former loves,

As interest of the dead, which now appear
as the rightful due of the dead, who now appear

But things removed that hidden in thee lie.
to be actually still alive and living within you.

Thou art the grave where buried love doth live,
You are their new living home,

Hung with the trophies of my lovers gone,
and all my lovers past have become personified in you

Who all their parts of me to thee did give;
and have taken up residence in your body.

That due of many now is thine alone.
All the love I owe to them, I now owe to you alone.

Their images I loved I view in thee,
The images of my old lovers I now view in you,

And thou, all they, hast all the all of me.
and you, being one with them, now have all the all of me.

Reading of Sonnet 31

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 courtesy of University of Virginia Library:

Thy bosome is indeared with all hearts,
Which I by lacking haue supposed dead,
And there raignes Loue and all Loues louing parts,
And all those friends which I thought buried.
How many a holy and obsequious teare
Hath deare religious loue stolne from mine eye,
As interest of the dead, which now appeare,
But things remou’d that hidden in there¹ lie.
Thou art the graue where buried loue doth liue,
Hung with the trophies of my louers gon,
Who all their parts of me to thee did giue,
That due of many, now is thine alone.
Their images I lou’d, I view in thee,
And thou (all they) hast all the all of me.

 

Wording differences between the text and the reading are noted with a superscript:

¹ thee