Sonnet 59

If there be nothing new, but that which isHath been before, how are our brains beguil'd,Which, labouring for invention, bear amissThe second burden of a former child! 4O, that record could with a backward look,Even of five hundred courses of the sun,Show me your image in some antique book,Since mind at first in character was done! 8That I might see what the old world could sayTo this composed wonder of your frame;Whether we are mended, or whe'r better they,Or whether revolution be the same. 12O, sure I am, the wits of former daysTo subjects worse have given admiring praise.

3 labouring for invention: striving for originality5 record: memory8 in character: in letters10 composed wonder: wonderful composition11 mended: advanced beyond our predecessorswhe'r: whether12 whether revolution be the same: whether all things come round again