English Wordplay ~ Listen and Enjoy
Sonnet 36
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Blackmore Evans suggested this sonnet was influenced by Ephesians 5:31,
"For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh."
Stephen Booth adds that Ephesians 5 was a regular source of inspiration for Shakespeare.
Booth suggests that the "blots" in line 3 may be an allusion to Eph 5:27,
"...not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. ..."
William Tyndale's English translation of the Bible pre-dated Shakespeare,
while The King James version was almost contemporaneous.
Let me confess that we two must be twain, Although our undivided loves are one: So shall those blots that do with me remain, Without thy help, by me be borne alone. In our two loves there is but one respect, Though in our lives a separable spite, Which though it alter not love's sole effect, Yet doth it steal sweet hours from love's delight. I may not evermore acknowledge thee, Lest my bewailed guilt should do thee shame, Nor thou with public kindness honour me, Unless thou take that honour from thy name: But do not so, I love thee in such sort, As thou being mine, mine is thy good report.