The SonnetsThe Sonnets

You can buy the Arden text of these sonnets from the Amazon.com online bookstore:Shakespeare's Sonnets (Arden Shakespeare: Third Series)I. FROM fairest creatures we desire increase,II. When forty winters shall beseige thy brow,III. Look in thy glass, and tell the face thou viewestIV. Unthrifty loveliness, why dost thou spendV. Those hours, that with gentle work did frameVI. Then let not winter's ragged hand defaceVII. Lo! in the orient when the gracious lightVIII. Music to hear, why hear'st thou music sadly?IX. Is it for fear to wet a widow's eyeX. For shame! deny that thou bear'st love to any,XI. As fast as thou shalt wane, so fast thou growestXII. When I do count the clock that tells the time,XIII. O, that you were yourself! but, love, you areXIV. Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck;XV. When I consider every thing that growsXVI. But wherefore do not you a mightier wayXVII. Who will believe my verse in time to come,XVIII. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?XIX. Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws,XX. A woman's face with Nature's own hand paintedXXI. So is it not with me as with that MuseXXII. My glass shall not persuade me I am old,XXIII. As an unperfect actor on the stageXXIV. Mine eye hath play'd the painter and hath stell'dXXV. Let those who are in favour with their starsXXVI. Lord of my love, to whom in vassalageXXVII. Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed,XXVIII. How can I then return in happy plight,XXIX. When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,XXX. When to the sessions of sweet silent thoughtXXXI. Thy bosom is endeared with all hearts,XXXII. If thou survive my well-contented day,XXXIII. Full many a glorious morning have I seenXXXIV. Why didst thou promise such a beauteous day,XXXV. No more be grieved at that which thou hast done:XXXVI. Let me confess that we two must be twain,XXXVII. As a decrepit father takes delightXXXVIII. How can my Muse want subject to invent,XXXIX. O, how thy worth with manners may I sing,XL. Take all my loves, my love, yea, take them all;XLI. Those petty wrongs that liberty commits,XLII. That thou hast her, it is not all my grief,XLIII. When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see,XLIV. If the dull substance of my flesh were thought,XLV. The other two, slight air and purging fire,XLVI. Mine eye and heart are at a mortal warXLVII. Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took,XLVIII. How careful was I, when I took my way,XLIX. Against that time, if ever that time come,L. How heavy do I journey on the way,LI. Thus can my love excuse the slow offenceLII. So am I as the rich, whose blessed keyLIII. What is your substance, whereof are you made,LIV. O, how much more doth beauty beauteous seemLV. Not marble, nor the gilded monumentsLVI. Sweet love, renew thy force; be it not saidLVII. Being your slave, what should I do but tendLVIII. That god forbid that made me first your slave,LIX. If there be nothing new, but that which isLX. Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,LXI. Is it thy will thy image should keep openLXII. Sin of self-love possesseth all mine eyeLXIII. Against my love shall be, as I am now,LXIV. When I have seen by Time's fell hand defacedLXV. Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea,LXVI. Tired with all these, for restful death I cry,LXVII. Ah! wherefore with infection should he live,LXVIII. Thus is his cheek the map of days outworn,LXIX. Those parts of thee that the world's eye doth viewLXX. That thou art blamed shall not be thy defect,LXXI. No longer mourn for me when I am deadLXXII. O, lest the world should task you to reciteLXXIII. That time of year thou mayst in me beholdLXXIV. But be contented: when that fell arrestLXXV. So are you to my thoughts as food to life,LXXVI. Why is my verse so barren of new pride,LXXVII. Thy glass will show thee how thy beauties wear,LXXVIII. So oft have I invoked thee for my MuseLXXIX. Whilst I alone did call upon thy aid,LXXX. O, how I faint when I of you do write,LXXXI. Or I shall live your epitaph to make,LXXXII. I grant thou wert not married to my MuseLXXXIII. I never saw that you did painting needLXXXIV. Who is it that says most? which can say moreLXXXV. My tongue-tied Muse in manners holds her still,LXXXVI. Was it the proud full sail of his great verse,LXXXVII. Farewell! thou art too dear for my possessing,LXXXVIII. When thou shalt be disposed to set me light,LXXXIX. Say that thou didst forsake me for some fault,XC. Then hate me when thou wilt; if ever, now;XCI. Some glory in their birth, some in their skill,XCII. But do thy worst to steal thyself away,XCIII. So shall I live, supposing thou art true,XCIV. They that have power to hurt and will do none,XCV. How sweet and lovely dost thou make the shameXCVI. Some say thy fault is youth, some wantonness;XCVII. How like a winter hath my absence beenXCVIII. From you have I been absent in the spring,XCIX. The forward violet thus did I chide:C. Where art thou, Muse, that thou forget'st so longCI. O truant Muse, what shall be thy amendsCII. My love is strengthen'd, though more weak in seeming;CIII. Alack, what poverty my Muse brings forth,CIV. To me, fair friend, you never can be old,CV. Let not my love be call'd idolatry,CVI. When in the chronicle of wasted timeCVII. Not mine own fears, nor the prophetic soulCVIII. What's in the brain that ink may characterCIX. O, never say that I was false of heart,CX. Alas, 'tis true I have gone here and thereCXI. O, for my sake do you with Fortune chide,CXII. Your love and pity doth the impression fillCXIII. Since I left you, mine eye is in my mind;CXIV. Or whether doth my mind, being crown'd with you,CXV. Those lines that I before have writ do lie,CXVI. Let me not to the marriage of true mindsCXVII. Accuse me thus: that I have scanted allCXVIII. Like as, to make our appetites more keen,CXIX. What potions have I drunk of Siren tears,CXX. That you were once unkind befriends me now,CXXI. 'Tis better to be vile than vile esteem'd,CXXII. Thy gift, thy tables, are within my brainCXXIII. No, Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change:CXXIV. If my dear love were but the child of state,CXXV. Were 't aught to me I bore the canopy,CXXVI. O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy powerCXXVII. In the old age black was not counted fair,CXXVIII. How oft, when thou, my music, music play'st,CXXIX. The expense of spirit in a waste of shameCXXX. My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;CXXXI. Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art,CXXXII. Thine eyes I love, and they, as pitying me,CXXXIII. Beshrew that heart that makes my heart to groanCXXXIV. So, now I have confess'd that he is thine,CXXXV. Whoever hath her wish, thou hast thy 'Will,'CXXXVI. If thy soul cheque thee that I come so near,CXXXVII. Thou blind fool, Love, what dost thou to mine eyes,CXXXVIII. When my love swears that she is made of truthCXXXIX. O, call not me to justify the wrongCXL. Be wise as thou art cruel; do not pressCXLI. In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes,CXLII. Love is my sin and thy dear virtue hate,CXLIII. Lo! as a careful housewife runs to catchCXLIV. Two loves I have of comfort and despair,CXLV. Those lips that Love's own hand did makeCXLVI. Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth,CXLVII. My love is as a fever, longing stillCXLVIII. O me, what eyes hath Love put in my head,CXLIX. Canst thou, O cruel! say I love thee not,CL. O, from what power hast thou this powerful mightCLI. Love is too young to know what conscience is;CLII. In loving thee thou know'st I am forsworn,CLIII. Cupid laid by his brand, and fell asleep:CLIV. The little Love-god lying once asleep