Poem translation

The language used in William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 29” may seem complex and old-fashioned due to its age. The following is a paraphrase or translation of the poem into modern English, with special attention given to more difficult words and phrases in the line by line analysis.

Sonnet 29

William Shakespeare

Stanza 1 

When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,

I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,

And look upon myself and curse my fate,

Stanza 2

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,

Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,

Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope,

With what I most enjoy contented least;

Stanza 3

Yet in these thoughts my...