< Return to all 154 William Shakespeare Sonnets Sonnet CXL (140) Be wise as thou art cruel; do not press My tongue-tied patience with too much disdain; Lest sorrow lend me words and words express The manner of my pity-wanting pain. If I might teach thee wit, better it were, Though not to love, yet, […]
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Shakespeare Sonnet CXXXIX (139): O, call not me to justify the wrong
< Return to all 154 William Shakespeare Sonnets Sonnet CXXXIX (139) O, call not me to justify the wrong That thy unkindness lays upon my heart; Wound me not with thine eye but with thy tongue; Use power with power and slay me not by art. Tell me thou lovest elsewhere, but in my sight, […]
Shakespeare Sonnet CXXXVIII (138): When my love swears that she is made of truth
< Return to all 154 William Shakespeare Sonnets Sonnet CXXXVIII (138) When my love swears that she is made of truth I do believe her, though I know she lies, That she might think me some untutor’d youth, Unlearned in the world’s false subtleties. Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young, Although she knows […]
Shakespeare Sonnet CXXXVII (137): Thou blind fool, Love, what dost thou to mine eyes
< Return to all 154 William Shakespeare Sonnets Sonnet CXXXVII (137) Thou blind fool, Love, what dost thou to mine eyes, That they behold, and see not what they see? They know what beauty is, see where it lies, Yet what the best is take the worst to be. If eyes corrupt by over-partial looks […]
Shakespeare Sonnet CXXXVI (136): If thy soul cheque thee that I come so near,
< Return to all 154 William Shakespeare Sonnets Sonnet CXXXVI (136) If thy soul cheque thee that I come so near, Swear to thy blind soul that I was thy ‘Will,’ And will, thy soul knows, is admitted there; Thus far for love my love-suit, sweet, fulfil. ‘Will’ will fulfil the treasure of thy love, […]
Shakespeare Sonnet CXXXV (135) Whoever hath her wish, thou hast thy ‘Will’
< Return to all 154 William Shakespeare Sonnets Sonnet CXXXV (135) Whoever hath her wish, thou hast thy ‘Will,’ And ‘Will’ to boot, and ‘Will’ in overplus; More than enough am I that vex thee still, To thy sweet will making addition thus. Wilt thou, whose will is large and spacious, Not once vouchsafe to […]
Shakespeare Sonnet CXXXIV (134): So, now I have confess’d that he is thine
< Return to all 154 William Shakespeare Sonnets Sonnet CXXXIV (134) So, now I have confess’d that he is thine, And I myself am mortgaged to thy will, Myself I’ll forfeit, so that other mine Thou wilt restore, to be my comfort still: But thou wilt not, nor he will not be free, For thou […]
Shakespeare Sonnet CXXXIII (133): Beshrew that heart that makes my heart to groan
< Return to all 154 William Shakespeare Sonnets Sonnet CXXXIII (133) Beshrew that heart that makes my heart to groan For that deep wound it gives my friend and me! Is’t not enough to torture me alone, But slave to slavery my sweet’st friend must be? Me from myself thy cruel eye hath taken, And […]
Shakespeare Sonnet CXXXII (132): Thine eyes I love, and they, as pitying me
< Return to all 154 William Shakespeare Sonnets Sonnet CXXXII (132) Thine eyes I love, and they, as pitying me, Knowing thy heart torments me with disdain, Have put on black and loving mourners be, Looking with pretty ruth upon my pain. And truly not the morning sun of heaven Better becomes the grey cheeks […]
Shakespeare Sonnet CXXXI (131): Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art
< Return to all 154 William Shakespeare Sonnets Sonnet CXXXI (131) Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art, As those whose beauties proudly make them cruel; For well thou know’st to my dear doting heart Thou art the fairest and most precious jewel. Yet, in good faith, some say that thee behold Thy face […]
Shakespeare Sonnet 130 (CXXX): My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun
< Return to all 154 William Shakespeare Sonnets Sonnet 130 (CXXX) My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips’ red; If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. I have seen roses damask’d, red and […]
Shakespeare Sonnet CXXIX (129): The expense of spirit in a waste of shame
< Return to William Shakespeare Poems Sonnet CXXIX (129) The expense of spirit in a waste of shame Is lust in action; and till action, lust Is perjured, murderous, bloody, full of blame, Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust, Enjoy’d no sooner but despised straight, Past reason hunted, and no sooner had Past reason […]
Shakespeare Sonnet CXXVIII (128): How oft, when thou, my music, music play’st
< Return to all 154 William Shakespeare Sonnets Sonnet CXXVIII (128) How oft, when thou, my music, music play’st, Upon that blessed wood whose motion sounds With thy sweet fingers, when thou gently sway’st The wiry concord that mine ear confounds, Do I envy those jacks that nimble leap To kiss the tender inward of […]
Shakespeare Sonnet CXXVII (127): In the old age black was not counted fair
< Return to all 154 William Shakespeare Sonnets Sonnet CXXVII (127) In the old age black was not counted fair, Or if it were, it bore not beauty’s name; But now is black beauty’s successive heir, And beauty slander’d with a bastard shame: For since each hand hath put on nature’s power, Fairing the foul […]
Shakespeare Sonnet CXXVI (126): O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power
< Return to all 154 William Shakespeare Sonnets Sonnet CXXVI (126) O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power Dost hold Time’s fickle glass, his sickle, hour; Who hast by waning grown, and therein show’st Thy lovers withering as thy sweet self grow’st; If Nature, sovereign mistress over wrack, As thou goest onwards, still […]
Shakespeare Sonnet CXXV (125): Were ‘t aught to me I bore the canopy
< Return to all 154 William Shakespeare Sonnets Sonnet CXXV (125) Were ‘t aught to me I bore the canopy, With my extern the outward honouring, Or laid great bases for eternity, Which prove more short than waste or ruining? Have I not seen dwellers on form and favour Lose all, and more, by paying […]
Shakespeare Sonnet CXXIV (124): If my dear love were but the child of state
< Return to all 154 William Shakespeare Sonnets Sonnet CXXIV (124) If my dear love were but the child of state, It might for Fortune’s bastard be unfather’d’ As subject to Time’s love or to Time’s hate, Weeds among weeds, or flowers with flowers gather’d. No, it was builded far from accident; It suffers not […]
Shakespeare Sonnet CXXIII (123): No, Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change
< Return to all 154 William Shakespeare Sonnets Sonnet CXXIII (123) No, Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change: Thy pyramids built up with newer might To me are nothing novel, nothing strange; They are but dressings of a former sight. Our dates are brief, and therefore we admire What thou dost foist […]
Shakespeare Sonnet CXXI (121): ‘Tis better to be vile than vile esteem’d
< Return to all 154 William Shakespeare Sonnets Sonnet CXXI (121) ‘Tis better to be vile than vile esteem’d, When not to be receives reproach of being, And the just pleasure lost which is so deem’d Not by our feeling but by others’ seeing: For why should others false adulterate eyes Give salutation to my […]
Shakespeare Sonnet CXX (120): That you were once unkind befriends me now
< Return to all 154 William Shakespeare Sonnets Sonnet CXX (120) That you were once unkind befriends me now, And for that sorrow which I then did feel Needs must I under my transgression bow, Unless my nerves were brass or hammer’d steel. For if you were by my unkindness shaken As I by yours, […]