Sonnet 109 is one of 154 sonnets written by the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

. It's a member of the Fair Youth sequence, in which the poet expresses his love towards a young man.

Synopsis

The poet denies that he has been emotionally unfaithful even though he has been absent. He can no more be untrue to the youth than to himself. If he has wandered away, he has returned, and washed away his own guilt. Even though the poet is capable of shameful behaviour, he could never be so corrupted that he would lose the perfection of the youth.

Interpretations

• Susannah York
  Susannah York
  Susannah York was a British film, stage and television actress. She was awarded a BAFTA as Best Supporting Actress for They Shoot Horses, Don't They? and was nominated for an Oscar and Golden Globe for the same film. She won best actress for Images at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival...
  
  , for the 2002 compilation album
  Compilation album
  A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
  
  , When Love Speaks
  When Love Speaks
  When Love Speaks is a compilation album that features interpretations of William Shakespeare's sonnets and excerpts from his plays by famous actors and musicians, released under EMI Classics in April 2002.-Track listing:...
  
  (EMI Classics
  EMI Classics
  EMI Classics is a record label of EMI, formed in 1990 in order to reduce the need to create country-specific packaging and catalogs for internationally distributed classical music releases....
  
  )