|  Sonnet 74 | 
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The first eleven lines of Sonnet 74 in the 1609 Quarto  | 
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But be contented when that fell arrest 
Without all bail shall carry me away; 
My life hath in this line some interest, 
Which for memorial still with thee shall stay. 
When thou reviewest this, thou dost review 
The very part was consecrate to thee; 
The earth can have but earth, which is his due, 
My spirit is thine, the better part of me; 
So then thou hast but lost the dregs of life, 
The prey of worms, my body being dead, 
The coward conquest of a wretch’s knife, 
Too base of thee to be remembered; 
The worth of that, is that which it contains, 
And that is this, and this with thee remains.  | 
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—William Shakespeare | 
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Sonnet 74 is one of 154 sonnets published by the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare in 1609. It is one of the Fair Youth sequence.