Sonnet 69 argues that the young man’s outward beauty is beyond criticism, but his reputation is not: the same people who praise his looks judge his mind by his deeds and find something rank, because he has made himself common.
Sonnet 69: Full Poem
Those parts of thee that the world’s eye doth view
Want nothing that the thought of hearts can mend;
All tongues, the voice of souls, give thee that due,
Utt’ring bare truth, even so as foes commend.
Thy outward thus with outward praise is crowned;
But those same tongues, that give thee so thine own,
In other accents do this praise confound
By seeing farther than the eye hath shown.
They look into the beauty of thy mind,
And that, in guess, they measure by thy deeds;
Then, churls, their thoughts, although their eyes were kind,
To thy fair flower add the rank smell of weeds:
But why thy odour matcheth not thy show,
The soil is this, that thou dost common grow.
Text from the 1609 Quarto, with spelling and punctuation lightly modernized.
At a Glance
Here are the key facts about Sonnet 69 for quick reference.
What Sonnet 69 Means
After two sonnets that praise the young man as a survivor of a purer age, Sonnet 69 reports what other people are saying about him. The news is mixed. Everyone agrees that he is beautiful. Not everyone agrees that he is good.
The first quatrain gives the praise. The parts of the young man that the world can see lack nothing that anyone could wish to improve. Every tongue, speaking for the soul behind it, gives him his due, telling the bare truth in the way that even enemies are forced to praise. His outward appearance is crowned with outward praise.
At line 6, the poem turns. The same tongues that give him what he deserves for his looks speak in another tone and undo that praise, because they look further than the eye can see. They look into “the beauty of thy mind,” and since they cannot see a mind directly, they guess at it by measuring his deeds. Their eyes were kind, but their thoughts are churlish, and they add “the rank smell of weeds” to his “fair flower.”
The couplet gives the reason. If the young man’s “odour,” his reputation, does not match his “show,” his appearance, the explanation is that he “dost common grow.” He has become common: too familiar, too available, or mixing with low company. The poem does not say exactly what he has done, but it makes clear that people are talking.
Sonnet 69 Line by Line
Each line, with the sense of it in plain English.
Themes
Sonnet 69 sets appearance against reputation, and its themes follow from the speaker’s attempt to report the difference honestly.
Outward Show and Inward Truth
The poem divides the young man into “outward” and inward parts. “Thy outward thus with outward praise is crowned,” says line 5, and the repetition sounds almost dismissive, as if outward praise were all the outward can earn. The inward part, “the beauty of thy mind,” is harder to judge. The worry that a beautiful face may hide a different nature appears in nearby poems. Sonnet 93 ends, “How like Eve’s apple doth thy beauty grow, / If thy sweet virtue answer not thy show!” and Sonnet 94 warns that “Lilies that fester, smell far worse than weeds.”
Reputation and Rumor
The poem is full of other people’s voices: “All tongues,” “those same tongues,” and “churls.” The speaker does not accuse the young man himself. He reports what is being said. This lets him deliver criticism while keeping some distance from it. The next poem, Sonnet 70, takes the young man’s side, opening with “That thou art blam’d shall not be thy defect” and arguing that slander targets the beautiful. Read together, the two poems show the speaker caught between what he hears and what he wants to believe.
The Flower and the Weed
The garden imagery of lines 12 to 14 treats the young man as a flower whose scent should match its beauty. A flower that looks fair but smells rank is a contradiction, and the poem uses that contradiction to describe a man whose looks and conduct do not agree. The image recurs in the sequence. Sonnet 94 says “The summer’s flower is to the summer sweet” until it meets “base infection,” and Sonnet 95 compares the young man’s shame to “a canker in the fragrant rose.”
Form and Language
Sonnet 69 moves from public praise to public criticism, and its language keeps returning to the senses: the eye that sees, the tongue that speaks, and the nose that smells.
Meter and Rhyme
The poem follows the regular Shakespearean scheme in iambic pentameter. Most rhymes are full, such as “mind” with “kind” and “deeds” with “weeds.” “Crowned” with “confound” is also a full rhyme, linking the praise of line 5 with its undoing in line 7. Contractions such as “Utt’ring” help keep line 4 to ten syllables.
Eye, Tongue, and Nose
The poem’s argument travels through the senses. The first quatrain belongs to the eye, “the world’s eye,” and to the tongue that reports what the eye sees. The second quatrain introduces seeing “farther than the eye hath shown,” a kind of looking that is really guessing. The third quatrain and couplet shift to smell: “rank smell of weeds” and “odour.” Smell is harder to fake than looks, and it stands here for the reputation that follows a person around.
“Churls”
“Churls” in line 11 is set off by commas, an outburst in the middle of the sentence. A churl was a peasant or low-born person, and by extension a rude or mean-spirited one. The speaker seems to resent the critics even as he reports them. Yet the couplet goes on to agree with their conclusion, which makes the insult look like a reflex of loyalty rather than a real defense.
“Common” and “Soil”
The final line packs two key words into a short space. “Soil” means the ground in which something grows, and so the ground or reason for something, and it also suggests a stain. The explanation is itself a blemish. “Common” can mean ordinary, vulgar, available to everyone, or belonging to the public, and the phrase may also suggest a plant growing on common land, open to anyone. The young man’s fault, in the speaker’s diagnosis, is that he has made himself too accessible.
A Closer Reading
Sonnet 69 is a carefully managed reproach, in which the speaker lets other people make the accusation and keeps the final verdict for himself.
The opening quatrain is generous in a way that prepares for the blow. The praise is unanimous, “All tongues,” and it is honest, “bare truth,” given “even so as foes commend.” The phrase about foes is telling. Enemies tend to praise what they cannot deny, so their praise is reliable, but it is also limited. It concedes the young man’s looks and nothing more. The first four lines already contain a hint of the criticism to come.
The turn at line 6 is made by the same tongues, not by new critics. This matters. If the praise of the young man’s looks is trustworthy, then so, presumably, is the criticism of his mind. The speaker builds the critics’ credibility before he lets them speak against the young man. He calls them “churls” in line 11, but the insult comes too late to undo the authority he has given them.
The critics’ method is guesswork, “in guess, they measure by thy deeds,” and the speaker seems to want the reader to notice it. But deeds are evidence. People cannot see a mind, so they infer it from what a person does, and the young man’s deeds have evidently given them material. The speaker does not say the deeds were invented. He says only that the critics went “farther than the eye hath shown,” which stops well short of calling what they found false.
The couplet abandons the reported voices, and the speaker talks in his own. “But why” introduces his explanation, and it is blunt: “thou dost common grow.” This is the voice of someone who loves the young man and is embarrassed by him. He does not deny the “rank smell” but offers a cause for it, and the cause is a social failing rather than a moral catastrophe. Common company, overfamiliarity, and cheapened availability are things that might still be corrected. The diagnosis is harsh, but it leaves room for reform.
Common Questions
The questions readers ask most often about Sonnet 69, answered briefly.
Who Is Sonnet 69 Addressed To?
The young man of the Fair Youth sonnets, whom the speaker addresses directly as “thee” and “thou.”
What Does “Thou Dost Common Grow” Mean?
It means “you are becoming common.” The young man has made himself too familiar or too available, perhaps by keeping low company, and his reputation has suffered.
Where Is the Volta in Sonnet 69?
At line 6, with “But those same tongues.” The praise of the young man’s appearance turns into criticism of his mind and deeds. The couplet adds the speaker’s explanation.
What Is the “Rank Smell of Weeds”?
It is a figure for bad reputation. The young man looks like a fair flower, but what people say about his conduct makes him smell like weeds.
Does the Speaker Agree With the Critics in Sonnet 69?
Partly. He calls them “churls,” but the couplet accepts that the young man’s “odour” does not match his “show” and blames it on his growing “common.”
Related Sonnets
Three sonnets share this poem’s concern with the gap between the young man’s beauty and his conduct.