| Sonnet 1 | - | From fairest
creatures we desire increase |
| Sonnet 2 | - | When forty
winters shall beseige thy brow |
| Sonnet 3 | - | Look in thy
glass, and tell the face thou viewest |
| Sonnet 4 | - | Unthrifty
loveliness, why dost thou spend |
| Sonnet 5 | - | Those hours,
that with gentle work did frame |
| Sonnet 6 | - | Then let not
winter's ragged hand deface |
| Sonnet 7 | - | Lo! in the
orient when the gracious light |
| Sonnet 8 | - | Music to
hear, why hear'st thou music sadly? |
| Sonnet 9 | - | Is it for
fear to wet a widow's eye |
| Sonnet 10 | - | For shame!
deny that thou bear'st love to any, |
| Sonnet 11 | - | As fast as
thou shalt wane, so fast thou growest |
| Sonnet 12 | - | When I do
count the clock that tells the time, |
| Sonnet 13 | - | O, that
you were yourself! but, love, you are |
| Sonnet 14 | - | Not from
the stars do I my judgment pluck |
| Sonnet 15 | - | When I
consider every thing that grows |
| Sonnet 16 | - | But
wherefore do not you a mightier way |
| Sonnet 17 | - | Who will
believe my verse in time to come, |
| Sonnet 18 | - | Shall I
compare thee to a summer's day? |
| Sonnet 19 | - | Devouring
Time, blunt thou the lion's paws |
| Sonnet 20 | - | A woman's
face with Nature's own hand painted |
| Sonnet 21 | - | So is it
not with me as with that Muse |
| Sonnet 22 | - | My glass
shall not persuade me I am old, |
| Sonnet 23 | - | As an
unperfect actor on the stage |
| Sonnet 24 | - | Mine eye
hath play'd the painter and hath stell'd |
| Sonnet 25 | - | Let those
who are in favour with their stars |
| Sonnet 26 | - | Lord of my
love, to whom in vassalage |
| Sonnet 27 | - | Weary with
toil, I haste me to my bed, |
| Sonnet 28 | - | How can I
then return in happy plight, |
| Sonnet 29 | - | When, in
disgrace with fortune and men's eyes |
| Sonnet 30 | - | When to
the sessions of sweet silent thought |
| Sonnet 31 | - | Thy bosom
is endeared with all hearts, |
| Sonnet 32 | - | If thou
survive my well-contented day, |
| Sonnet 33 | - | Full many
a glorious morning have I seen |
| Sonnet 34 | - | Why didst
thou promise such a beauteous day, |
| Sonnet 35 | - | No more be
grieved at that which thou hast done |
| Sonnet 36 | - | Let me
confess that we two must be twain, |
| Sonnet 37 | - | As a
decrepit father takes delight |
| Sonnet 38 | - | How can my
Muse want subject to invent, |
| Sonnet 39 | - | O, how thy
worth with manners may I sing |
| Sonnet 40 | - | Take all
my loves, my love, yea, take them all; |
| Sonnet 41 | - | Those
petty wrongs that liberty commits, |
| Sonnet 42 | - | That thou
hast her, it is not all my grief, |
| Sonnet 43 | - | When most
I wink, then do mine eyes best see, |
| Sonnet 44 | - | If the
dull substance of my flesh were thought |
| Sonnet 45 | - | The other
two, slight air and purging fire, |
| Sonnet 46 | - | Mine eye
and heart are at a mortal war |
| Sonnet 47 | - | Betwixt
mine eye and heart a league is took |
| Sonnet 48 | - | How
careful was I, when I took my way, |
| Sonnet 49 | - | Against
that time, if ever that time come, |
| Sonnet 50 | - | How heavy
do I journey on the way, |
| Sonnet 51 | - | Thus can
my love excuse the slow offence |
| Sonnet 52 | - | So am I as
the rich, whose blessed key |
| Sonnet 53 | - | What is
your substance, whereof are you made, |
| Sonnet 54 | - | O, how
much more doth beauty beauteous seem |
| Sonnet 55 | - | Not
marble, nor the gilded monuments |
| Sonnet 56 | - | Sweet
love, renew thy force; be it not said |
| Sonnet 57 | - | Being your
slave, what should I do but tend |
| Sonnet 58 | - | That god
forbid that made me first your slave |
| Sonnet 59 | - | If there
be nothing new, but that which is |
| Sonnet 60 | - | Like as
the waves make towards the pebbled shore, |
| Sonnet 61 | - | Is it thy
will thy image should keep open |
| Sonnet 62 | - | Sin of
self-love possesseth all mine eye |
| Sonnet 63 | - | Against my
love shall be, as I am now, |
| Sonnet 64 | - | When I
have seen by Time's fell hand defaced |
| Sonnet 65 | - | Since
brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea |
| Sonnet 66 | - | Tired with
all these, for restful death I cry, |
| Sonnet 67 | - | Ah!
wherefore with infection should he live, |
| Sonnet 68 | - | Thus is
his cheek the map of days outworn, |
| Sonnet 69 | - | Those
parts of thee that the world's eye doth view |
| Sonnet 70 | - | That thou
art blamed shall not be thy defect, |
| Sonnet 71 | - | No longer
mourn for me when I am dead |
| Sonnet 72 | - | O, lest
the world should task you to recite |
| Sonnet 73 | - | That time
of year thou mayst in me behold |
| Sonnet 74 | - | But be
contented: when that fell arrest |
| Sonnet 75 | - | So are you to my
thoughts as food to life |
| Sonnet 76 | - | Why is my
verse so barren of new pride, |
| Sonnet 77 | - | Thy glass
will show thee how thy beauties wear, |
| Sonnet 78 | - | So oft
have I invoked thee for my Muse |
| Sonnet 79 | - | Whilst I
alone did call upon thy aid, |
| Sonnet 80 | - | O, how I
faint when I of you do write |
| Sonnet 81 | - | Or I shall
live your epitaph to make, |
| Sonnet 82 | - | I grant
thou wert not married to my Muse |
| Sonnet 83 | - | I never
saw that you did painting need |
| Sonnet 84 | - | Who is it
that says most? which can say more |
| Sonnet 85 | - | My tongue
-tied Muse in manners holds her still, |
| Sonnet 86 | - | Was it the
proud full sail of his great verse, |
| Sonnet 87 | - | Farewell!
thou art too dear for my possessing, |
| Sonnet 88 | - | When thou
shalt be disposed to set me light, |
| Sonnet 89 | - | Say that
thou didst forsake me for some fault, |
| Sonnet 90 | - | Then hate
me when thou wilt; if ever, now; |
| Sonnet 91 | - | Some glory
in their birth, some in their skill, |
| Sonnet 92 | - | But do thy
worst to steal thyself away, |
| Sonnet 93 | - | So shall I
live, supposing thou art true, |
| Sonnet 94 | - | They that
have power to hurt and will do none, |
| Sonnet 95 | - | How sweet
and lovely dost thou make the shame |
| Sonnet 96 | - | Some say
thy fault is youth, some wantonness; |
| Sonnet 97 | - | How like a
winter hath my absence been |
| Sonnet 98 | - | From you
have I been absent in the spring, |
| Sonnet 99 | - | The
forward violet thus did I chide |
| Sonnet 100 | - | Where
art thou, Muse, that thou forget'st so long |
| Sonnet 101 | - | O truant
Muse, what shall be thy amends |
| Sonnet 102 | - | My love
is strengthen'd, though more weak in seeming; |
| Sonnet 103 | - | Alack,
what poverty my Muse brings forth, |
| Sonnet 104 | - | To me,
fair friend, you never can be old |
| Sonnet 105 | - | Let not
my love be call'd idolatry, |
| Sonnet 106 | - | When in
the chronicle of wasted time |
| Sonnet 107 | - | Not mine
own fears, nor the prophetic soul |
| Sonnet 108 | - | What's
in the brain that ink may character |
| Sonnet 109 | - | O, never
say that I was false of heart |
| Sonnet 110 | - | Alas,
'tis true I have gone here and there |
| Sonnet 111 | - | O, for
my sake do you with Fortune chide, |
| Sonnet 112 | - | Your
love and pity doth the impression fill |
| Sonnet 113 | - | Since I
left you, mine eye is in my mind; |
| Sonnet 114 | - | Or
whether doth my mind, being crown'd with you, |
| Sonnet 115 | - | Those
lines that I before have writ do lie, |
| Sonnet 116 | - | Let me
not to the marriage of true minds |
| Sonnet 117 | - | Accuse
me thus: that I have scanted all |
| Sonnet 118 | - | Like as,
to make our appetites more keen, |
| Sonnet 119 | - | What
potions have I drunk of Siren tears, |
| Sonnet 120 | - | That you
were once unkind befriends me now, |
| Sonnet 121 | - | 'Tis
better to be vile than vile esteem'd, |
| Sonnet 122 | - | Thy
gift, thy tables, are within my brain |
| Sonnet 123 | - | No,
Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change: |
| Sonnet 124 | - | If my
dear love were but the child of state, |
| Sonnet 125 | - | Were 't
aught to me I bore the canopy, |
| Sonnet 126 | - | O thou,
my lovely boy, who in thy power |
| Sonnet 127 | - | if it
were, it bore not beauty's name; |
| Sonnet 128 | - | oft,
when thou, my music, music play'st, |
| Sonnet 129 | - | The
expense of spirit in a waste of shame |
| Sonnet 130 | - | My
mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun |
| Sonnet 131 | - | Thou art
as tyrannous, so as thou art, |
| Sonnet 132 | - | Thine
eyes I love, and they, as pitying me, |
| Sonnet 133 | - | Beshrew
that heart that makes my heart to groan |
| Sonnet 134 | - | So, now
I have confess'd that he is thine, |
| Sonnet 135 | - | Whoever
hath her wish, thou hast thy 'Will,' |
| Sonnet 136 | - | If thy
soul cheque thee that I come so near, |
| Sonnet 137 | - | Thou
blind fool, Love, what dost thou to mine eyes, |
| Sonnet 138 | - | When my
love swears that she is made of truth |
| Sonnet 139 | - | O, call
not me to justify the wrong |
| Sonnet 140 | - | Be wise
as thou art cruel; do not press |
| Sonnet 141 | - | In
faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes |
| Sonnet 142 | - | Love is
my sin and thy dear virtue hate |
| Sonnet 143 | - | Lo! as a
careful housewife runs to catch |
| Sonnet 144 | - | Two
loves I have of comfort and despair |
| Sonnet 145 | - | Those
lips that Love's own hand did make |
| Sonnet 146 | - | Poor
soul, the centre of my sinful earth, |
| Sonnet 147 | - | My love
is as a fever, longing still |
| Sonnet 148 | - | O me,
what eyes hath Love put in my head, |
| Sonnet 149 | - | Canst
thou, O cruel! say I love thee not, |
| Sonnet 150 | - | O, from
what power hast thou this powerful might |
| Sonnet 151 | - | Love is
too young to know what conscience is; |
| Sonnet 152 | - | In
loving thee thou know'st I am forsworn, |
| Sonnet 153 | - | Cupid
laid by his brand, and fell asleep: |
| Sonnet 154 | - | The
little Love-god lying once asleep |
_______
Introduction to
Shakespeare's Sonnets
Although love is the overarching theme of the sonnets, there are three specific underlying themes: (1) the brevity of life, (2) the transience of beauty, and (3) the trappings of desire. The first two of these underlying themes are the focus of the early sonnets addressed to the young man (in particular Sonnets 1-17) where the poet argues that having children to carry on one's beauty is the only way to conquer the ravages of time. In the middle sonnets of the young man sequence the poet tries to immortalize the young man through his own poetry (the most famous examples being Sonnet 18 and Sonnet 55). 
"Both Time and Death, we have seen, are personified in the Sonnets, are thought of and
spoken of as churlish and malevolent entities. But they had been personified in Shakespeare's
imagination with equal vividness and with the same kind of abhorrence before the Sonnets
were written. There is a long apostrophe to Death in the