Sonnet 145

The beloved speaks 'I hate,' wounding the speaker, but then softens and amends it to 'I hate not you,' restoring hope.

Original

Modern

1 Those lips that Love’s own hand did make,

The lips that Love itself shaped with its own hand

2 Breathed forth the sound that said ‘I hate’,

Spoke the word that said 'I hate'

3 To me that languished for her sake:

Directed at me, who was suffering because of her

4 But when she saw my woeful state,

But when she saw my miserable condition

5 Straight in her heart did mercy come,

Immediately her heart was filled with compassion

6 Chiding that tongue that ever sweet,

Rebuking that tongue which was always so sweet

7 Was used in giving gentle doom:

That was accustomed to delivering gentle judgments

8 And taught it thus anew to greet:

And taught it to speak anew in this manner

Volta The volta arrives with the emendation: 'I hate' becomes 'I hate' with an added ending—'not you.' The second half undoes the first half's cruelty.

9 ‘I hate’ she altered with an end,

She changed 'I hate' and gave it an ending

10 That followed it as gentle day,

And what followed was like gentle day

11 Doth follow night who like a fiend

Follows the night, which is like a demon

12 From heaven to hell is flown away.

That has flown from heaven down to hell

13 ‘I hate’, from hate away she threw,

She threw 'I hate' away, removing it from hate

14 And saved my life saying ‘not you’.

redemptive moment: 'I hate not you'

And saved my life by saying 'I don't hate you'

The Power of Revision

This sonnet is unusual in its conciseness and brevity of emotional arc. The beloved literally revises her own speech, adding words ('altered with an end') that transform meaning. This is a rare moment where the Dark Lady acts with mercy, suggesting that even cruelty can be unmade by grace. The sonnet enacts linguistic redemption.

Wordplay on 'Not You' / 'Knot You'

The final line's 'not you' likely puns on 'knot you'—a tying or binding. She 'saved' him not just with words but by binding him to her with the correction. The wordplay is slight but suggests that even mercy in this relationship is a form of entanglement.

If this happened today

Like receiving a text that says 'I hate this' and feeling devastated, only to have the person follow up with 'I hate this situation, not you.' One word, one punctuation mark, changes everything.

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