Sonnet 71in modern English, side by side

Facing his own death, the speaker tells the young man not to mourn him — in fact, to forget him entirely — so that grief won't hurt him and the sneering world won't get the chance to mock him for it.

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No longer mourn for me when I am dead

Than you shall hear the surly sullen bell

Give warning to the world that I am fled

From this vile world with vilest worms to dwell:

When I am dead, don't mourn for me any longer than you can hear the grim, sullen bell warning the world that I have fled this vile world to live with viler worms.

Nay, if you read this line, remember not5

The hand that writ it, for I love you so,

That I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot,

If thinking on me then should make you woe.

In fact, if you read this line, don't even remember the hand that wrote it — because I love you so much that I would rather be forgotten in your sweet thoughts than have a thought of me cause you pain.

O if, I say, you look upon this verse,

When I perhaps compounded am with clay,10

Do not so much as my poor name rehearse;

But let your love even with my life decay;

Or if — I repeat — you look at this poem when I have perhaps been mixed back into the clay, then don't so much as say my poor name out loud; let your love decay right along with my life.

Lest the wise world should look into your moan,

And mock you with me after I am gone.

Otherwise the know-it-all world might examine your grieving and use me to mock you after I am gone.

Famous lines in this scene

“No longer mourn for me when I am dead Than you shall hear the surly sullen bell” line 1

The famous opening instruction: grieve only as long as the funeral bell rings, then stop. It sounds selfless — the speaker wants to spare the young man pain — though many readers notice the twist: a poem saying 'forget me' guarantees he is remembered every time it is read.

Confused by a different line? Paste any Shakespeare — any play, any edition — and get it in modern English.

Studying the language itself? Our Shakespearean English course teaches thou/thee, the verbs, and the meter — free through Unit 2. Or try the Shakespearean English translator.