sonnets-141-154

«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 […]

«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 […]

«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 […]

«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 […]

«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 […]

«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 […]

«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, […]

«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 […]

«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” […]

«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 […]

«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 […]

«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 […]