Shakespeare. Sonnets complete list. With Audio reading

Shakespeare’s sonnets explore a wide range of emotions and themes, from love and loss to time and mortality. Many of them are addressed to a mysterious young man, whom scholars have speculated was a real person or perhaps an idealized version of Shakespeare himself. Whatever their subject matter, Shakespeare’s sonnets are remarkable for their insight, beauty, and eloquence. It is no wonder that they have inspired poets for centuries.

»»» Sonnets Introduction

Sonnets
Sonnet 1
«From fairest creatures we desire increase, That thereby beauty’s rose might never die». Shakespeare begins his sonnets by introducing four of his most important themes — immortality, time, procreation, and selfishness — which are interrelated in this first sonnet both thematically and through the use…
Sonnet 2
«When forty winters shall beseige thy brow, And dig deep trenches in thy beauty’s field,». Sonnet 2 continues the argument and plea from Sonnet 1, this time through the imagery of military, winter, and commerce. Time again is the great enemy, besieging the youth’s brow,…
Sonnet 3
«Look in thy glass, and tell the face thou viewest Now is the time that face should form another». Drawing on farming imagery, the poet focuses entirely on the young man’s future, with both positive and negative outcomes. However, the starting point for these possible…
Sonnet 4
«Unthrifty loveliness, why dost thou spend Upon thyself thy beauty’s legacy?». The themes of narcissism and usury (meant here as a form of use) are most developed in this sonnet, with its references to wills and testaments. The terms “unthrifty,” “legacy,” “bequest,” and “free” (which…
Sonnet 5
«Those hours, that with gentle work did frame The lovely gaze where every eye doth dwell». Sonnet 5 compares nature’s four seasons with the stages of the young man’s life. Although the seasons are cyclical, his life is linear, and hours become tyrants that oppress…
Sonnet 6
«Then let not winter’s ragged hand deface In thee thy summer, ere thou be distill’d». Sonnet 6 continues the winter imagery from the previous sonnet and furthers the procreation theme. Winter, symbolizing old age, and summer, symbolizing youth, are diametrically opposed. Sonnet 6 Read and listen…
Sonnet 7
«Lo! in the orient when the gracious light Lifts up his burning head, each under eye». The poet begs the young man not to die childless — “ere thou be distill’d” — without first making “sweet some vial.” Here, “distill’d” recalls the summer flowers from…
Sonnet 8
«Music to hear, why hear’st thou music sadly? Sweets with sweets war not, joy delights in joy». In this sonnet, the poet compares a single musical note to the young man and a chord made up of many notes to a family. The marriage of…
Sonnet 9
«Is it for fear to wet a widow’s eye That thou consumest thyself in single life?». The poet imagines that the young man objects to the bliss of marriage on the grounds that he might die young anyway or that he might die and leave…
Sonnet 10
«For shame deny that thou bear’st love to any, Who for thyself art so unprovident». Sonnet 10 repeats and extends the argument of Sonnet 9, with the added suggestion that the youth really loves no one. Clearly, the poet does not seriously believe the young…
Sonnet 11
«As fast as thou shalt wane, so fast thou growest In one of thine, from that which thou departest». The poet now argues that the young man needs to have a child in order to maintain a balance in nature, for as the youth grows…
Sonnet 12
«When I do count the clock that tells the time, And see the brave day sunk in hideous night». Sonnet 12 again speaks of the sterility of bachelorhood and recommends marriage and children as a means of immortality. Additionally, the sonnet gathers the themes of…
Sonnet 13
«O, that you were yourself! but, love, you are No longer yours than you yourself here live». Sonnet 13 furthers Sonnet 12’s theme of death by again stating that death will forever vanquish the young man’s beauty if he dies without leaving a child. Sonnet…
Sonnet 14
«Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck; And yet methinks I have astronomy,». Sonnet 13 depends on an intimate relationship between the poet and the young man that is symbolized in the use of the more affectionate “you”; Sonnet 14 discards — at…
Sonnet 15
«When I consider every thing that grows Holds in perfection but a little moment,». In Sonnet 15‘s first eight lines, the poet surveys how objects mutate — decay — over time: “. . . every thing that grows / Holds in perfection but a little…
Sonnet 16
«But wherefore do not you a mightier way Make war upon this bloody tyrant, Time?». Sonnet 16 continues the arguments for the youth to marry and at the same time now disparages the poet’s own poetic labors, for the poet concedes that children will ensure…
Sonnet 17
«Who will believe my verse in time to come, If it were fill’d with your most high deserts?». In the earlier sonnets, the poet’s main concern was to persuade the youth to marry and reproduce his beauty in the creation of a child. That purpose…
Sonnet 18
«Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate». One of the best known of Shakespeare’s sonnets, Sonnet 18 is memorable for the skillful and varied presentation of subject matter, in which the poet’s feelings reach a level of…
Sonnet 19
«Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion’s paws, And make the earth devour her own sweet brood». In Sonnet 19, the poet addresses Time and, using vivid animal imagery, comments on Time’s normal effects on nature. The poet then commands Time not to age the young…
Sonnet 20
«A woman’s face with Nature’s own hand painted Hast thou, the master-mistress of my passion». In this crucial, sensual sonnet, the young man becomes the “master-mistress” of the poet’s passion. The young man’s double nature and character, however, present a problem of description: Although to…
Sonnet 21
«So is it not with me as with that Muse Stirr’d by a painted beauty to his verse». Having explored the nature of his and the young man’s relationship in the previous sonnet, the poet now returns to his theme of immortality. Not only does…
Sonnet 22
«My glass shall not persuade me I am old, So long as youth and thou are of one date». Until now, the poet’s feelings have soared to the level of rapture; in Sonnet 22, he suggests — perhaps deluding himself — that his affections are…
Sonnet 23
«As an unperfect actor on the stage Who with his fear is put besides his part». Most of Sonnet 23 compares the poet’s role as a lover to an actor’s timidity onstage. The image of the poor theatrical player nervously missing his lines is the…
Sonnet 24
«Mine eye hath play’d the painter and hath stell’d Thy beauty’s form in table of my heart». When the poet writes in Sonnet 24 of finding “where your true image pictured lies,” he focuses on a meaning of “true” in the sense of genuine as…
Sonnet 25
«Let those who are in favour with their stars Of public honour and proud titles boast». In Sonnet 25, which has as its theme mortality versus immortality, the poet contrasts himself with those “who are in favor with their stars,” implying that, though he is…
Sonnet 26
«Lord of my love, to whom in vassalage Thy merit hath my duty strongly knit». Sonnet 26 prepares for the young man’s absence from the poet, although the reason for this separation is not clear. The sonnet’s first two lines, “Lord of my love, to…
Sonnet 27
«Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed, The dear repose for limbs with travel tired». The poet describes himself as being “weary with toil” and trying to sleep. The somber mood announces a new phase in the relationship. In the first four lines,…
Sonnet 28
«How can I then return in happy plight, That am debarr’d the benefit of rest?». Images of absence, continued from the previous sonnet, show the poet at the point of emotional exhaustion and frustration due to his sleepless nights spent thinking about the young man.…
Sonnet 29
«When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes, I all alone beweep my outcast state». Resenting his bad luck, the poet envies the successful art of others and rattles off an impressive catalogue of the ills and misfortunes of his life. His depression is derived…
Sonnet 30
«When to the sessions of sweet silent thought I summon up remembrance of things past». The poet repeats Sonnet 29’s theme, that memories of the youth are priceless compensations — not only for many disappointments and unrealized hopes but for the loss of earlier friends:…
Sonnet 31
«Thy bosom is endeared with all hearts, Which I by lacking have supposed dead». Sonnet 31 expands upon the sentiment conveyed in the preceding sonnet’s concluding couplet, “But if the while I think on thee, dear friend, / All losses are restored and sorrows end.”…
Sonnet 32
«If thou survive my well-contented day, When that churl Death my bones with dust shall cover». Sonnet 32 concludes the sonnet sequence on the poet’s depression over his absence from the youth. Sonnet 32 Read and listen If thou survive my well-contented day, When that…
Sonnet 33
«Full many a glorious morning have I seen Flatter the mountain-tops with sovereign eye». Sonnet 33 begins a new phase in the poet and youth’s estrangement from each other. (The breach well may be caused by the youth’s seduction of the poet’s mistress, which the…
Sonnet 34
«Why didst thou promise such a beauteous day, And make me travel forth without my cloak». The poet speaks of a quite different feeling than he did in Sonnet 33. He is puzzled and painfully disappointed by the youth, whose callousness dashes any hope of…
Sonnet 35
«No more be grieved at that which thou hast done: Roses have thorns, and silver fountains mud». Whereas in Sonnet 33 the poet is an onlooker, in the previous sonnet and here in Sonnet 35, the poet recognizes his own contribution to the youth’s wrongdoing…
Sonnet 36
«Let me confess that we two must be twain, Although our undivided loves are one». Obstacles to the friendship between the poet and the young man remain, but the poet is no longer wholly duped by his young friend. However, he still maintains that their…
Sonnet 37
«As a decrepit father takes delight To see his active child do deeds of youth». Sonnet 37, which echoes Sonnet 36, conveys the emotions of a doting parent and discontinues the confessional mode of the previous sonnets. Sonnet 37 Read and listen As a decrepit…
Sonnet 38
«How can my Muse want subject to invent, While thou dost breathe, that pour’st into my verse». Like the previous sonnet, Sonnet 38 contrasts the selfishly lascivious youth and the adoring, idealistic poet. The poet appears pitifully unable to contemplate his life without the youth,…
Sonnet 39
«O, how thy worth with manners may I sing, When thou art all the better part of me?». Sonnet 39 constructs an ingenious variation on the theme of absence. Ironically, separation is inspirational: “That by this separation I may give / That due to thee…
Sonnet 40
«Take all my loves, my love, yea, take them all; What hast thou then more than thou hadst before?». Sonnet 40 begins a three-sonnet sequence in which the poet shares his possessions and his mistress with the youth, although it is not until Sonnet 41…
Sonnet 41
«Those petty wrongs that liberty commits, When I am sometime absent from thy heart». In order to forgive the youth for his actions, the poet places himself in both the youth’s position and that of the mistress. In the sonnet’s first four lines, the poet…
Sonnet 42
«That thou hast her, it is not all my grief, And yet it may be said I loved her dearly». Only in this last sonnet concerning the youth and the poet’s mistress does the poet make fully apparent the main reason for his being so…
Sonnet 43
«When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see, For all the day they view things unrespected». The next sonnet series on absence begins here with Sonnet 43 and continues through Sonnet 58. Throughout this new sequence, different meanings of the same words are…
Sonnet 44
«If the dull substance of my flesh were thought, Injurious distance should not stop my way». Sonnet 44 and the following one form a continuous theme involving the four basic elements of matter according to Elizabethan science: earth, water, air, and fire. Sonnet 44 Read…
Sonnet 45
«The other two, slight air and purging fire, Are both with thee, wherever I abide». This sonnet continues and completes the idea of Sonnet 44, but here air and fire — symbolizing the poet’s thoughts and desires, respectively — are linked to the youth because…
Sonnet 46
«Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war How to divide the conquest of thy sight». The poet alludes to contradictions within himself when he considers his longing for the sight of the youth’s good looks and his need to love and be loved…
Sonnet 47
«Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took, And each doth good turns now unto the other». In Sonnet 46, conflict between the eyes and heart is the theme. In Sonnet 47, these organs complement one another. Sonnet 47 Read and listen Betwixt mine…
Sonnet 48
«How careful was I, when I took my way, Each trifle under truest bars to thrust». The youth keeps the poet on edge, and once again we see the poet’s bondage to the relationship. The poet develops a metaphorical contrast between being robbed of physical…
Sonnet 49
«Against that time, if ever that time come, When I shall see thee frown on my defects». All pride is missing in this sonnet, whose first four lines continue the poet’s fear of the “truth” evoked in the preceding sonnet. Sonnet 49 Read and listen…
Sonnet 50
«How heavy do I journey on the way, When what I seek, my weary travel’s end». Nothing suggests where the poet is journeying in this and the following sonnets. All that is known is that the poet is on an unnamed journey away from the…
Sonnet 51
«Thus can my love excuse the slow offence Of my dull bearer when from thee I speed». The companion to the previous sonnet, Sonnet 51 further expands on the theme of traveling. Sonnet 51 Read and listen Thus can my love excuse the slow offence…
Sonnet 52
«So am I as the rich, whose blessed key Can bring him to his sweet up-locked treasure». The poet grows more accepting of his separation from the young man, whom he likens to “up-lockèd treasure.” Sonnet 52 Read and listen So am I as the…
Sonnet 53
«What is your substance, whereof are you made, That millions of strange shadows on you tend?». A more relaxed poet appears to have forgotten his previous doubts about his relationship with the young man, who is still attractive but whose true self is elusive. Sonnet…
Sonnet 54
«O, how much more doth beauty beauteous seem By that sweet ornament which truth doth give!». The rose image in this sonnet symbolizes immortal truth and devotion, two virtues that the poet associates with the young man. Likening himself to a distiller, the poet, who…
Sonnet 55
«Not marble, nor the gilded monuments Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme». Sonnet 55, one of Shakespeare’s most famous verses, asserts the immortality of the poet’s sonnets to withstand the forces of decay over time. The sonnet continues this theme from the previous sonnet,…
Sonnet 56
«Sweet love, renew thy force; be it not said Thy edge should blunter be than appetite». Much like in Sonnet 52, the poet accepts that separation can be advantageous in making their love that much sweeter when the youth and the poet resume their relationship.…
Sonnet 57
«Being your slave, what should I do but tend Upon the hours and times of your desire?». In Sonnet 57, the poet argues that he is not so much the young man’s friend as he is his slave. As a slave, he waits on the…
Sonnet 58
«That god forbid that made me first your slave, I should in thought control your times of pleasure». As in so many other sonnets, the poet’s annoyance with the young man is expressed ambiguously. We hardly notice that he rebukes the youth in the lines…
Sonnet 59
«If there be nothing new, but that which is Hath been before, how are our brains beguiled». Sonnet 59 dwells on the paradox that what is new is always expressed in terms of what is already known. The elements of any invention or creative composition…
Sonnet 60
«Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, So do our minutes hasten to their end». Sonnet 60 is acknowledged as one of Shakespeare’s greatest because it deals with the universal concerns of time and its passing. Sonnet 60 Read and listen Like as…
Sonnet 61
«Is it thy will thy image should keep open My heavy eyelids to the weary night?». The youth continues to present a variety of phantom images to the poet. Trying to settle on one authentic image, the poet cannot sleep because of the emotional turmoil…
Sonnet 62
«Sin of self-love possesseth all mine eye And all my soul and all my every part». The poet thinks of himself as a young man and condemns his own narcissistic vanity. Unfortunately, although he can intellectualize narcissism as an unworthy attribute, nonetheless “It is so…
Sonnet 63
«Against my love shall be, as I am now, With Time’s injurious hand crush’d and o’er-worn». References to the young man’s future are signs of the poet’s fear that love cannot defend against time. Sonnet 63 Read and listen Against my love shall be, as…
Sonnet 64
«When I have seen by Time’s fell hand defaced The rich proud cost of outworn buried age». In Sonnet 64, the poet is portrayed as a historian, philosopher, and antiquarian who dreams of time’s relentless destruction of ancient glories. Monuments that reflect the noblest ideas…
Sonnet 65
«Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea, But sad mortality o’er-sways their power». Continuing many of the images from Sonnet 64, the poet concludes that nothing withstands time’s ravages. Sonnet 65 Read and listen Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea,…
Sonnet 66
«Tired with all these, for restful death I cry, As, to behold desert a beggar born». Were it not that dying would take him from his love, the angry speaker of this litany of life’s disappointments would die. Sonnet 66 Read and listen Tired with…
Sonnet 67
«Ah! wherefore with infection should he live, And with his presence grace impiety». Sonnet 67 continues the thought of the previous sonnet, and develops a new argument in its reflection upon the poet’s contemporary age. Sonnet 67 Read and listen Ah! wherefore with infection should…
Sonnet 68
«Thus is his cheek the map of days outworn, When beauty lived and died as flowers do now». Because the young man epitomizes ancient standards of true beauty, he does not need cosmetics or a wig made from “the golden tresses of the dead.” Sonnet…
Sonnet 69
«Those parts of thee that the world’s eye doth view Want nothing that the thought of hearts can mend». Although the youth’s enemies praise his appearance, they all but slander him in their private meetings. Sonnet 69 Read and listen Those parts of thee that…
Sonnet 70
«That thou art blamed shall not be thy defect, For slander’s mark was ever yet the fair». The poet is unable to maintain his disapproval of the young man, but he forgives without forgetting. The youth can blame only himself for the slanderous rumors about…
Sonnet 71
«No longer mourn for me when I am dead Then you shall hear the surly sullen bell». In this and the next three sonnets, the poet’s mood becomes increasingly morbid. Here he anticipates his own death: “No longer mourn for me when I am dead…
Sonnet 72
«O, lest the world should task you to recite What merit lived in me, that you should love». Sonnet 72 echoes the mood of Sonnet 71, and the poet tells the youth not to praise his verse after the poet’s death, as his praise could…
Sonnet 73
«That time of year thou mayst in me behold When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang». The poet indicates his feeling that he has not long to live through the imagery of the wintry bough, twilight’s afterglow, and a fire’s dying embers. All…
Sonnet 74
«But be contented: when that fell arrest Without all bail shall carry me away». The poet continues his obsessive concern with his own death. Although he emphasizes his own inadequacy as a person, he boldly asserts the greatness of his verse: “My life hath in…
Sonnet 75
«So are you to my thoughts as food to life, Or as sweet-season’d showers are to the ground». The poet is torn by contrary feelings that he cannot reconcile. His relationship with the youth alternates between pleasure — “Sometime all full with feasting on your…
Sonnet 76
«Why is my verse so barren of new pride, So far from variation or quick change?». Complaining that his verse is sadly limited, the poet acknowledges that his praise of the young man allows no new form of argument. As a traditionalist, the poet rejects…
Sonnet 77
«Thy glass will show thee how thy beauties wear, Thy dial how thy precious minutes waste». The youth’s aging face will be reflected in a mirror, and the passage of time will be reflected on his watch, clashing with the youth’s eternally young thoughts. Sonnet…
Sonnet 78
«So oft have I invoked thee for my Muse And found such fair assistance in my verse». The poet’s success in gaining entry into the youth’s good graces inspires imitators: “As every alien pen hath got my use, / And under thee their poesy disperse.”…
Sonnet 79
«Whilst I alone did call upon thy aid, My verse alone had all thy gentle grace». Sonnet 79 presents the first specific reference to a rival poet who vies for the young man’s affections. Without losing his sense of moral superiority, the poet bitterly resents…
Sonnet 80
«O, how I faint when I of you do write, Knowing a better spirit doth use your name». The poet acknowledges that the rival poet displaces him in the youth’s favor. Feeling discouraged by the superiority of the “better spirit” of the rival poet, whom…
Sonnet 81
«Or I shall live your epitaph to make, Or you survive when I in earth am rotten». The poet rebounds somewhat in the face of the rival poet’s opposition. Reverting to tried-and-tested themes, he heroically assures the youth that he, unlike the rival poet, can…
Sonnet 82
«I grant thou wert not married to my Muse And therefore mayst without attaint o’erlook». A less subdued poet challenges the rival poet. In contrast to the intellectually fashionable rival, the poet possesses an intuitive, almost spiritual inspiration. Sonnet 82 Read and listen I grant…
Sonnet 83
«I never saw that you did painting need And therefore to your fair no painting set». Apparently having been reproached by the youth for withdrawing from competition against the rival poet, the poet argues that it is better not to write any poetry than to…
Sonnet 84
«Who is it that says most? which can say more Than this rich praise, that you alone are you?». The poet offers advice — while criticizing the rival poet — to any writer who wishes to achieve true poetry: Copying and interpreting nature are necessary…
Sonnet 85
«My tongue-tied Muse in manners holds her still, While comments of your praise, richly compiled». The poet likens himself to an “unlettered clerk” and finds his Muse “tongue-tied” — the identical phrase the poet used in Sonnet 80 to characterize himself. Sonnet 85 Read and…
Sonnet 86
«Was it the proud full sail of his great verse, Bound for the prize of all too precious you». Unlike the previous sonnets dealing with the rival poet, this last sonnet in the rival-poet sequence is written in the past tense and indicates that the…
Sonnet 87
«Farewell! thou art too dear for my possessing, And like enough thou know’st thy estimate». Sonnet 87 reads like a conclusion to the sonnet sequence describing the dominance of the rival poet, but in fact is the poet’s farewell to the youth, who has returned…
Sonnet 88
«When thou shalt be disposed to set me light, And place my merit in the eye of scorn». The poet speaks of his relationship with the young man as though it has been repaired after the rival poet’s departure, but his is a vision of…
Sonnet 89
«Say that thou didst forsake me for some fault, And I will comment upon that offence». Continuing where the previous sonnet left off, this sonnet reveals an undertone of apprehension in the poet’s references to the young man. Whatever the slanderous accusation the youth will…
Sonnet 90
«Then hate me when thou wilt; if ever, now; Now, while the world is bent my deeds to cross». Already distressed by “the spite of fortune,” the poet urges the youth not to postpone his desertion of him if that is what he intends; do…
Sonnet 91
«Some glory in their birth, some in their skill, Some in their wealth, some in their bodies’ force». The poet examines his love for the young man in a more relaxed, less urgent vein. He first catalogues different activities that people like to immerse themselves…
Sonnet 92
«But do thy worst to steal thyself away, For term of life thou art assured mine». Resignedly, the poet is prepared to accept whatever fate brings. Because his life depends on the youth’s love, his life will not survive the loss of that love and…
Sonnet 93
«So shall I live, supposing thou art true, Like a deceived husband; so love’s face». In contrast to the concluding couplet in the previous sonnet, in which the poet questions the young man’s moral character, now the poet surmises that the youth may be inconstant…
Sonnet 94
«They that have power to hurt and will do none, That do not do the thing they most do show». On the surface at least, Sonnet 94 continues the theme from the previous sonnet, which contrasts virtue with appearance. Although the sonnet offers a warm…
Sonnet 95
«How sweet and lovely dost thou make the shame Which, like a canker in the fragrant rose». Employing a paternal attitude, the poet continues his lecture on how deceiving appearances can be. In the first quatrain, he constructs a simile in which the young man…
Sonnet 96
«Some say thy fault is youth, some wantonness; Some say thy grace is youth and gentle sport». Still using the paternal tone, the poet observes that the young man’s vices are a subject of public gossip. The contrast between the youth’s beauty and his vicious…
Sonnet 97
«How like a winter hath my absence been From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year!». The poet begins a new sequence of sonnets, written in his absence from the youth during the summer and autumn months, although the first image in Sonnet 97 is…
Sonnet 98
«From you have I been absent in the spring, When proud-pied April dress’d in all his trim». The theme of absence continues with the youth away. The poet first describes April in a buoyant tone, and says that even “heavy Saturn,” which during the Elizabethan…
Sonnet 99
«The forward violet thus did I chide: Sweet thief, whence didst thou steal thy sweet that smells». Sonnet 99 is an in-depth explanation of how the natural objects from lines 11 and 12 in the previous sonnet pale in comparison to the young man’s beauty:…
Sonnet 100
«Where art thou, Muse, that thou forget’st so long To speak of that which gives thee all thy might?». Sonnet 100 marks a change in the poet’s thinking from previous sonnets, in which the simplicity of his poetry was expected to win favor against rivals,…
Sonnet 101
«O truant Muse, what shall be thy amends For thy neglect of truth in beauty dyed?». Continuing his plea to the Muse of poetry, the poet abandons his silence and philosophizes about the nature of truth and beauty. Sonnet 101 Read and listen O truant…
Sonnet 102
«My love is strengthen’d, though more weak in seeming; I love not less, though less the show appear». To justify not writing verse about the young man, the poet argues that constantly proclaiming love for someone cheapens the genuineness of the emotion. Sonnet 102 Read…
Sonnet 103
«Alack, what poverty my Muse brings forth, That having such a scope to show her pride». The poet continues to bewail his abandonment by his Muse, although he concedes that his love for the youth is stronger because of the absence: “The argument all bare…
Sonnet 104
«To me, fair friend, you never can be old, For as you were when first your eye I eyed». Sonnet 104 indicates for the first time that the poet and young man’s relationship has gone on for three years. Evoking seasonal imagery from previous sonnets,…
Sonnet 105
«Let not my love be call’d idolatry, Nor my beloved as an idol show». As if it weren’t already clear, the poet writes that he has only one true love and that his poetry is only for the youth — the identical assertion presented in…
Sonnet 106
«When in the chronicle of wasted time I see descriptions of the fairest wights». Sonnet 106 is addressed to the young man without reference to any particular event. The poet surveys historical time in order to compare the youth’s beauty to that depicted in art…
Sonnet 107
«Not mine own fears, nor the prophetic soul Of the wide world dreaming on things to come». Whereas the previous sonnet compared the past with the present, Sonnet 107 contrasts the present with the future. The poet’s favorite theme of immortality through poetic verse dominates…
Sonnet 108
«What’s in the brain that ink may character Which hath not figured to thee my true spirit?». Admitting that he risks running out of new ideas and “I must each day say o’er the very same” about the young man, the poet replaces newly imagined…
Sonnet 109
«O, never say that I was false of heart, Though absence seem’d my flame to qualify». Sonnet 109 begins a sequence of apologetic sonnets using the image of travel as a metaphor for the poet’s reduction of the attention he gives to the young man.…
Sonnet 110
«Alas, ‘tis true I have gone here and there And made myself a motley to the view». The poet deeply regrets his lapse of attention to the young man and wishes to show his disgust and self-reproach. He lists his faults and expresses resentment at…
Sonnet 111
«O, for my sake do you with Fortune chide, The guilty goddess of my harmful deeds». Sonnet 111 focuses particularly on the poet’s laments about his misfortunes. He resents that circumstances have forced him to behave as he has because fortune provided so meanly for…
Sonnet 112
«Your love and pity doth the impression fill Which vulgar scandal stamp’d upon my brow». The first two lines recall the “brand” and the “pity” that the poet discussed in the previous sonnet: “Your love and pity doth the impression fill / Which vulgar scandal…
Sonnet 113
«Since I left you, mine eye is in my mind; And that which governs me to go about». More from a sense of duty than a meaningful expression of emotion, the poet professes to see the young man in everything while he is away from…
Sonnet 114
«Or whether doth my mind, being crown’d with you, Drink up the monarch’s plague, this flattery?». Continuing the dichotomy between the eye and the mind, the poet presents two alternative possibilities — indicated by the phrase “Or whether” — for how the eye and mind…
Sonnet 115
«Those lines that I before have writ do lie, Even those that said I could not love you dearer». The poet now admits that his believing that his love for the youth was as great as it could ever be was wrong: He can love…
Sonnet 116
«Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love». Despite the confessional tone in this sonnet, there is no direct reference to the youth. The general context, however, makes it clear that the poet’s temporary alienation refers to the…
Sonnet 117
«Accuse me thus: that I have scanted all Wherein I should your great deserts repay». The poet abruptly returns to the subject of the young man and renews his apology and appeal. Sonnet 117 Read and listen Accuse me thus: that I have scanted all…
Sonnet 118
«Like as, to make our appetites more keen, With eager compounds we our palate urge». The poet now elaborates on lines 5 and 6 from the previous sonnet: “That I have frequent been with unknown minds / And given to time your own dear-purchased right.”…
Sonnet 119
«What potions have I drunk of Siren tears, Distill’d from limbecks foul as hell within». Arguing that his actions were impulsive and uncontrollable, the poet sincerely apologizes for betraying the youth. Sonnet 119 Read and listen What potions have I drunk of Siren tears, Distill’d…
Sonnet 120
«That you were once unkind befriends me now, And for that sorrow which I then did feel». The poet and the youth now are able to appreciate traded injuries, with the poet neglecting the youth for his mistress and the youth committing a vague “trespass.”…
Sonnet 121
«‘Tis better to be vile than vile esteem’d, When not to be receives reproach of being». The poet receives the same public reproof as the youth did earlier in the sonnets and is forced to consider whether or not his actions are immoral. Sonnet 121…
Sonnet 122
«Thy gift, thy tables, are within my brain Full character’d with lasting memory». Just as the poet gave a notebook to the youth in Sonnet 77, the youth has given the poet a notebook, which the poet discards. Sonnet 122 Read and listen Thy gift,…
Sonnet 123
«No, Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change: Thy pyramids built up with newer might». The poet clearly denies that he is one of time’s fools, or one who acts only for immediate satisfaction: “No, Time, thou shalt not boast that I do…
Sonnet 124
«If my dear love were but the child of state, It might for Fortune’s bastard be unfather’d’». Developing further the theme of constancy from the previous sonnet, the poet argues that love — “that heretic” — is not subject to cancellation or change. Sonnet 124…
Sonnet 125
«Were ‘t aught to me I bore the canopy, With my extern the outward honouring’». For the poet, love is not a matter of external pride — that is, he is not interested in his rivals’ self-frustrating displays of false love (lines 1–2). Sonnet 125…
Sonnet 126
«O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power Dost hold Time’s fickle glass, his sickle, hour». Sonnet 126 is the last of the poems about the youth, and it sums up the dominant theme: Time destroys both beauty and love. Sonnet 126 Read and…
Sonnet 127
«In the old age black was not counted fair, Or if it were, it bore not beauty’s name». Sonnet 127, which begins the sequence dealing with the poet’s relationship to his mistress, the Dark Lady, defends the poet’s unfashionable taste in brunettes. Sonnet 127 Read…
Sonnet 128
«How oft, when thou, my music, music play’st, Upon that blessed wood whose motion sounds». Sonnet 128 is one of the few sonnets that create a physical scene, although that scene involves only the poet standing beside “that blessed wood” — probably a harpsichord, a…
Sonnet 129
«The expense of spirit in a waste of shame Is lust in action; and till action, lust». The mistress is not mentioned in this sonnet. Instead, the poet pens a violent diatribe against the sin of lust. Sonnet 129 Read and listen The expense of…
Sonnet 130
«My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips’ red». Sonnet 130 is a parody of the Dark Lady, who falls too obviously short of fashionable beauty to be extolled in print. The poet, openly contemptuous of his…
Sonnet 131
«Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art, As those whose beauties proudly make them cruel». The poet further discusses his mistress’s unattractive appearance. The first quatrain continues the previous sonnet’s ending thought, that the Dark Lady is “the fairest and most precious jewel.” Sonnet…
Sonnet 132
«Thine eyes I love, and they, as pitying me, Knowing thy heart torments me with disdain». Sonnet 132 represents an intensification of the poet’s feelings for the Dark Lady, ironically paralleling his former relationship with the youth in that the poet recognizes that she does…
Sonnet 133
«Beshrew that heart that makes my heart to groan For that deep wound it gives my friend and me!». Whereas Sonnet 132 makes the mistress into a chaste beauty, Sonnet 133 maligns her for seducing the poet’s friend, the young man: “Beshrew that heart that…
Sonnet 134
«So, now I have confess’d that he is thine, And I myself am mortgaged to thy will». The story of the poet’s friend’s seduction unfolds in Sonnet 134. Hoping to gain the woman’s favor, the poet sends the young man to the woman with a…
Sonnet 135
«Whoever hath her wish, thou hast thy ‘Will,’ And ‘Will’ to boot, and ‘Will’ in overplus». The punning on the word “will” continues from the previous sonnet. The poet wants to continue his sexual relationship with his mistress, but she is already bursting with lovers:…
Sonnet 136
«If thy soul cheque thee that I come so near, Swear to thy blind soul that I was thy ‘Will,’». Sonnet 136 continues to play on the word “will,” and the result is still more damaging to the woman’s character. The lady has other lovers…
Sonnet 137
«Thou blind fool, Love, what dost thou to mine eyes, That they behold, and see not what they see?». The dichotomy between the impulses of the eye and the heart is developed further in this sonnet. After the preceding two sexually comic sonnets, Sonnet 137…
Sonnet 138
«When my love swears that she is made of truth I do believe her, though I know she lies». Sonnet 138 presents a candid psychological study of the mistress that reveals many of her hypocrisies. Certainly she is still very much the poet’s mistress, but…
Sonnet 139
«O, call not me to justify the wrong That thy unkindness lays upon my heart». Regressing to his former melodramatic verse, the poet begs the woman to be honest with him and confess her infidelity. Sonnet 139 Read and listen O, call not me to…
Sonnet 140
«Be wise as thou art cruel; do not press My tongue-tied patience with too much disdain».   Sinking quickly into despair over the sad state of his relationship with the woman, the poet threatens the woman with public humiliation should she not at least feign love…
Sonnet 141
«In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes, For they in thee a thousand errors note».   In Sonnet 141, the poet discusses how his senses warn him of the woman’s disreputable character, yet his heart, a symbol of his emotions, remains affectionately attached…
Sonnet 142
«Love is my sin and thy dear virtue hate, Hate of my sin, grounded on sinful lovinge».   Delving into the awareness of sin, Sonnet 142 sums up the poet’s whole fatuous and insatiable passion. He supports the woman’s rejection of his love because he deems…
Sonnet 143
«Lo! as a careful housewife runs to catch One of her feather’d creatures broke away».   The image of an errant mistress chasing chickens while neglecting her infant suggests a love triangle between the woman, the young man, and the poet. Sonnet 143 Read and listen…
Sonnet 144
«Two loves I have of comfort and despair, Which like two spirits do suggest me still».   Sonnet 144 is the only sonnet that explicitly refers to both the Dark Lady and the young man, the poet’s “Two loves.” Atypically, the poet removes himself from the…
Sonnet 145
«Those lips that Love’s own hand did make Breathed forth the sound that said ‘I hate’».   As the sequel to the previous sonnet, Sonnet 145 is a trivial treatment of love. The mistress grants pity on the poet in contrast to previous sonnets, in which…
Sonnet 146
«Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth, [Thrall to] these rebel powers that thee array».   The poet now somberly ponders why his soul, as “Lord” of his body, spends so much of its time seeking earthly desires when it should be most concerned about…
Sonnet 147
«My love is as a fever, longing still For that which longer nurseth the disease».   The final sonnets concerning the mistress, beginning with this one, return the poet to the disturbed state of previous sonnets. Sonnet 147 Read and listen My love is as a…
Sonnet 148
«O me, what eyes hath Love put in my head, Which have no correspondence with true sight!».   In Sonnet 148, a companion to the previous sonnet, the poet admits that his judgment is blind when it comes to love. Again his eyes are false and…
Sonnet 149
«Canst thou, O cruel! say I love thee not, When I against myself with thee partake?».   Sonnet 149 recalls the poet’s abject defense of the youth’s insulting behavior. The main theme, however, is the conflict between reason and infatuation. Sonnet 149 Read and listen Canst…
Sonnet 150
«O, from what power hast thou this powerful might With insufficiency my heart to sway?».   Using a more rational tone than in the previous sonnet, the poet tries to understand why he cannot completely break from the woman. He shifts his approach, asking what incredible…
Sonnet 151
«Love is too young to know what conscience is; Yet who knows not conscience is born of love?».   If the poet ever hoped that his soul would win out over his body, as he does in Sonnet 146, and that his reason would return to…
Sonnet 152
«In loving thee thou know’st I am forsworn, But thou art twice forsworn, to me love swearing».   The end of the relationship between the poet and the woman becomes apparent. Addressing the woman with a sense of shame and outrage, the poet is fully conscious…
Sonnet 153
«Cupid laid by his brand, and fell asleep: A maid of Dian’s this advantage found».   The last two sonnets, which may be considered as appendices to the preceding sonnet story, do not touch upon any of the major themes in the sonnets. Sonnet 153 Read…
Sonnet 154
«The little Love-god lying once asleep Laid by his side his heart-inflaming brand».   Sonnet 154 tells a similar story as the one in Sonnet 153. Cupid falls asleep and a nymph steals his “heart-inflaming brand.” She quenches the brand in a cool well, but the…
Shakespeare. The Sonnets with audio reading – Introduction
All Shakespeare’s sonnets with audio reading and short analysis. Introduction. Shakespeare’s sonnets are among the most beloved and well-known poems in the English language. Composed of 14 lines, they are divided into three quatrains and a final, concluding couplet, rhyming abab cdcd efef gg. This…

Shakespeare’s Sonnets are some of the most fascinating and influential poems written in English. First published in 1609, in a small quarto edition (roughly the size of a modern paperback), almost nothing is known about the poems’ composition. But the Sonnets have been read, recited, reprinted and written about ever since their first appearance. They have inspired many creative works, including music and dance pieces as well as other poems. And they continue to intrigue those of us who watch, read and study Shakespeare’s plays, for the insight they might offer into the mind of the man who wrote our most beloved dramatic works. This piece will explore why the Sonnets are so important to the history of English poetry and why they continue to be enjoyed – and imitated – today.

Part of the reason Shakespeare’s Sonnets speak to us so directly is that they are written with their own afterlife in mind. These are poems designed to commemorate the poet’s beloved for all eternity. In the famous lines of Sonnet 18 Shakespeare suggests that his poem confers immortality: ‘So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, / So long lives this, and this gives life to thee’ (ll. 11.13–14). Long after his lover’s death, Shakespeare’s poem will continue to keep his lover alive. The Sonnets look to their own future, imagining the readers who will come to them hundreds of years after Shakespeare’s death. We continue to read the poems partly because of this sense of contact with Shakespeare as he reaches out into the future, a sense of presence as well as a reminder of his absence (a theme that will return later in this piece).

»»» Sonnets Introduction

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