Podcasts by Shakespeare’s Sonnets
The 154 sonnets that Shakespeare penned are some of the most famous in the world. But have you ever heard them all? This podcast series will take you through them one by one in easy 15 minute installments. The show’s two hosts, and maybe one or two special guests, will read through the sonnet and talk about what it means to them and what they feel about it.
Further podcasts by In Ear Entertainment Limited
Podcast on the topic Bücher
All episodes
Sonnet 154: The little Love-god lying once asleep from 2014-04-22T12:29:14
The little Love-god lying once asleep
Laid by his side his heart-inflaming brand,
Whilst many nymphs that vow’d chaste life to keep
Came tripping by; but in her maiden hand
T...
Sonnet 153: Cupid laid by his brand and fell asleep from 2014-04-15T11:00:01
Cupid laid by his brand and fell asleep.
A maid of Dian’s this advantage found,
And his love-kindling fire did quickly steep
In a cold valley-fountain of that ground,
Which b...
Sonnet 152: In loving thee thou know’st I am forsworn from 2014-04-10T11:00:55
In loving thee thou know’st I am forsworn,
But thou art twice forsworn, to me love swearing,
In act thy bed-vow broke and new faith torn,
In vowing new hate after new love bearing...
Sonnet 151: Love is too young to know what conscience is from 2014-04-08T16:06:55
Love is too young to know what conscience is,
Yet who knows not conscience is born of love?
Then, gentle cheater, urge not my amiss,
Lest guilty of my faults thy sweet self prove....
Sonnet 150: O, from what power hast thou this powerful might from 2014-04-03T11:00:23
O, from what power hast thou this powerful might
With insufficiency my heart to sway,
To make me give the lie to my true sight,
And swear that brightness doth not grace the day?
Sonnet 149: Canst thou, O cruel, say I love thee not from 2014-04-01T11:00:23
Canst thou, O cruel, say I love thee not,
When I against myself with thee partake?
Do I not think on thee, when I forgot
Am of myself, all tyrant for thy sake?
Who hateth the...
Sonnet 148: O me! What eyes hath love put in my head from 2014-03-27T12:00:14
O me! What eyes hath love put in my head,
Which have no correspondence with true sight!
Or if they have, where is my judgement fled,
That censures falsely what they see aright?
Sonnet 147: My love is as a fever, longing still from 2014-03-25T12:00:10
My love is as a fever, longing still
For that which longer nurseth the disease,
Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill,
Th’uncertain sickly appetite to please.
My reason...
Sonnet 146: Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth from 2014-03-20T12:00:14
Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth,
Feeding these rebel pow’rs that thee array,
Why dost thou pine within and suffer dearth,
Painting thy outward walls so costly gay?
W...
Sonnet 145: Those lips that Love’s own hand did make from 2014-03-18T12:00:13
Those lips that Love’s own hand did make
Breathed forth the sound that said “I hate”
To me that languished for her sake.
But when she saw my woeful state,
Straight in her hea...
Sonnet 144: Two loves I have, of comfort and despair from 2014-03-13T12:00:49
Two loves I have, of comfort and despair,
Which like two spirits do suggest me still:
The better angel is a man right fair;
The worser spirit a woman coloured ill.
To win me ...
Sonnet 143: Lo, as a careful housewife runs to catch from 2014-03-11T12:00:44
Lo, as a careful housewife runs to catch
One of her feathered creatures broke away,
Sets down her babe and makes a swift dispatch
In pursuit of the thing she would have stay,
Listen
Sonnet 142: Love is my sin, and thy dear virtue hate from 2014-03-06T12:00:39
Love is my sin, and thy dear virtue hate,
Hate of my sin, grounded on sinful loving.
O but with mine compare thou thine own state,
And thou shalt find it merits not reproving,
Listen
Sonnet 141: In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes from 2014-03-04T12:00:31
In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes,
For they in thee a thousand errors note,
But ’tis my heart that loves what they despise,
Who in despite of view is pleased to dote.
Sonnet 140: Be wise as thou art cruel: Do not press from 2014-02-27T12:00:26
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 m...
Sonnet 139: O call not me to justify the wrong from 2014-02-25T12:00:26
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 ...
Sonnet 138: When my love swears that she is made of truth from 2014-02-20T12:00
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 untutored youth,
Unlearned in the world’s false subtleties.
Sonnet 137: Thou blind fool Love, what dost thou to mine eyes from 2014-02-18T12:00:44
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 ...
Sonnet 136: If thy soul check thee that I come so near from 2014-02-13T12:00:32
If thy soul check 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, fulfi...
Sonnet 135: Whoever hath her wish, thou hast thy Will from 2014-02-11T12:00:25
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 tho...
Sonnet 134: So now I have confessed that he is thine from 2014-02-06T12:00:21
So now I have confessed 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 wi...
Sonnet 133: Beshrew that heart that makes my heart to groan from 2014-02-04T12:00:37
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...
Sonnet 132: Thine eyes I love, and they, as pitying me from 2014-01-30T12:00:23
Thine eyes I love, and they, as pitying me,
Knowing thy heart torment me with disdain,
Have put on black, and loving mourners be,
Looking with pretty ruth upon my pain.
And t...
Sonnet 131: Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art from 2014-01-28T12:00:20
Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art,
As those whose beauties proudly make them cruel;
For well thou knowst, to my dear doting heart
Thou art the fairest and most precious jewel....
Sonnet 130: My mistress’eyes are nothing like the sun from 2014-01-23T12:00:58
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 hea...
Sonnet 129: The expense of spirit in a waste of shame from 2014-01-21T12:00:54
The expense of spirit in a waste of shame
Is lust in action: and till action, lust
Is perjur’d, murderous, bloody, full of blame,
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust;
...
Sonnet 128: How oft when thou, my music, music play’st from 2014-01-16T12:00:51
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,
Sonnet 127: In the old age black was not counted fair from 2014-01-14T15:09:25
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 slandered with a bastard shame:
For...
Sonnet 126: O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power from 2014-01-09T12:00:08
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...
Sonnet 125: Were’t aught to me I bore the canopy from 2014-01-07T12:00:23
Were’t aught to me I bore the canopy,
With my extern the outward honouring,
Or laid great bases for eternity,
Which proves more short than waste or ruining?
Have I not seen d...
Sonnet 124: If my dear love were but the child of state from 2014-01-02T12:00:53
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 Time’s hate,
Weeds amoung weeds, or flowers with flowers ga...
Sonnet 123: No! Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change from 2013-12-31T12:00:49
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.
Ou...
Sonnet 122: Thy gift, thy tables, are within my brain from 2013-12-26T12:00:43
Thy gift, thy tables, are within my brain
Full character’d with lasting memory,
Which shall above that idle rank remain,
Beyond all date; even to eternity:
Or, at the least, ...
Sonnet 121:‘Tis better to be vile than vile esteem’d from 2013-12-24T12:00:40
‘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:
Listen
Sonnet 120: That you were once unkind befriends me now from 2013-12-19T12:00:10
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.
Listen
Sonnet 119: What potions have I drunk of Siren tears from 2013-12-17T12:00:06
What potions have I drunk of Siren tears,
Distill’d from limbecks foul as hell within,
Applying fears to hopes and hopes to fears,
Still losing when I saw myself to win!
What...
Sonnet 118: Like as, to make our appetites more keen from 2013-12-12T12:00:03
Like as, to make our appetites more keen,
With eager compounds we our palate urge,
As, to prevent our maladies unseen,
We sicken to shun sickness when we purge;
Even so, bein...
Sonnet 117: Accuse me thus: that I have scanted all from 2013-12-10T12:00:55
Accuse me thus: that I have scanted all,
Wherein I should your great deserts repay,
Forgot upon your dearest love to call,
Whereto all bonds do tie me day by day;
That I have...
Sonnet 116: Let me not to the marriage of true minds from 2013-12-05T12:00:23
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! It is an ever-f...
Sonnet 115: Those lines that I before have writ do lie from 2013-12-03T12:00:18
Those lines that I before have writ do lie,
Even those that said I could not love you dearer:
Yet then my judgment knew no reason why
My most full flame should afterwards burn cle...
Sonnet 114: Or whether doth my mind, being crowned with you from 2013-11-28T12:00:14
Or whether doth my mind, being crowned with you,
Drink up the monarch’s plague, this flattery?
Or whether shall I say, mine eye saith true,
And that your love taught it this alche...
Sonnet 113: Since I left you, mine eye is in my mind from 2013-11-26T12:00:30
Since I left you, mine eye is in my mind;
And that which governs me to go about
Doth part his function and is partly blind,
Seems seeing, but effectually is out;
For it no fo...
Sonnet 112: Your love and pity doth the impression fill from 2013-11-21T12:00:24
Your love and pity doth the impression fill,
Which vulgar scandal stamped upon my brow;
For what care I who calls me well or ill,
So you o’er-green my bad, my good allow?
You...
Sonnet 111: O! for my sake do you with Fortune chide from 2013-11-19T12:00:05
O! for my sake do you with Fortune chide,
The guilty goddess of my harmful deeds,
That did not better for my life provide
Than public means which public manners breeds.
Thenc...
Sonnet 110: Alas!’tis true, I have gone here and there from 2013-11-14T12:00
Alas! ’tis true, I have gone here and there,
And made my self a motley to the view,
Gored mine own thoughts, sold cheap what is most dear,
Made old offences of affections new;
Listen
Sonnet 109: O! never say that I was false of heart from 2013-11-12T12:00:44
O! never say that I was false of heart,
Though absence seem’d my flame to qualify,
As easy might I from my self depart
As from my soul which in thy breast doth lie:
That is m...
Sonnet 108: What’s in the brain that ink may character from 2013-11-07T12:00:44
What’s in the brain that ink may character,
Which hath not figured to thee my true spirit?
What’s new to speak, what now to register,
That may express my love, or thy dear merit?<...
Sonnet 107: Not mine own fears, nor the prophetic soul from 2013-11-05T12:00:39
Not mine own fears, nor the prophetic soul
Of the wide world dreaming on things to come,
Can yet the lease of my true love control,
Supposed as forfeit to a confined doom.
Th...
Sonnet 106: When in the chronicle of wasted time from 2013-10-31T12:00
When in the chronicle of wasted time
I see descriptions of the fairest wights,
And beauty making beautiful old rhyme,
In praise of ladies dead and lovely knights,
Then, in th...
Sonnet 105: Let not my love be called idolatry from 2013-10-29T12:00:04
Let not my love be called idolatry,
Nor my beloved as an idol show,
Since all alike my songs and praises be
To one, of one, still such, and ever so.
Kind is my love to-day, t...
Sonnet 104: To me, fair friend, you never can be old from 2013-10-24T11:00:02
To me, fair friend, you never can be old,
For as you were when first your eye I ey’d,
Such seems your beauty still. Three winters cold,
Have from the forests shook three summers’ ...
Sonnet 103: Alack! what poverty my Muse brings forth from 2013-10-22T11:00:41
Alack! what poverty my Muse brings forth,
That having such a scope to show her pride,
The argument all bare is of more worth
Than when it hath my added praise beside!
O! blam...
Sonnet 102: My love is strengthened, though more weak in seeming from 2013-10-18T11:00:19
My love is strengthened, though more weak in seeming;
I love not less, though less the show appear;
That love is merchandized, whose rich esteeming,
The owner’s tongue doth publis...
Sonnet 101: O truant Muse what shall be thy amends from 2013-10-15T11:00:13
O truant Muse what shall be thy amends
For thy neglect of truth in beauty dyed?
Both truth and beauty on my love depends;
So dost thou too, and therein dignified.
Make answer...
Sonnet 100: Where art thou, Muse, that thou forget’st so long from 2013-10-10T20:03:39
Where art thou, Muse, that thou forget’st so long
To speak of that which gives thee all thy might?
Spend’st thou thy fury on some worthless song,
Darkening thy power to lend base ...
Sonnet 099: The forward violet thus did I chide from 2013-10-08T11:00:35
The forward violet thus did I chide:
Sweet thief, whence didst thou steal thy sweet that smells,
If not from my love’s breath? Thy purple pride
Which on thy soft cheek for complex...
Sonnet 098: From you have I been absent in the spring from 2013-10-03T11:00:09
From you have I been absent in the spring,
When proud-pied April dress’d in all his trim
Hath put a spirit of youth in every thing
That heavy Saturn laugh’d and leap’d with him.
Sonnet 097: How like a winter hath my absence been from 2013-10-01T11:00:43
How like a winter hath my absence been
From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year!
What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen!
What old December’s bareness every where!
Listen
Sonnet 096: Some say thy fault is youth, some wantonness from 2013-09-26T11:00:49
Some say thy fault is youth, some wantonness;
Some say thy grace is youth and gentle sport;
Both grace and faults are lov’d of more and less:
Thou mak’st faults graces that to the...
Sonnet 95: How sweet and lovely dost thou make the shame from 2013-09-24T11:00:45
How sweet and lovely dost thou make the shame
Which, like a canker in the fragrant rose,
Doth spot the beauty of thy budding name!
O! in what sweets dost thou thy sins enclose.
Sonnet 094: They that have power to hurt and will do none from 2013-09-19T11:00:09
They that have power to hurt and will do none,
That do not do the thing they most do show,
Who, moving others, are themselves as stone,
Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow,
Listen
Sonnet 093: So shall I live, supposing thou art true from 2013-09-17T11:00:07
So shall I live, supposing thou art true,
Like a deceived husband; so love’s face
May still seem love to me, though altered new;
Thy looks with me, thy heart in other place:
...
Sonnet 092: But do thy worst to steal thyself away from 2013-09-12T11:00:05
But do thy worst to steal thyself away,
For term of life thou art assured mine,
And life no longer than thy love will stay,
For it depends upon that love of thine.
Then need ...
Sonnet 091: Some glory in their birth, some in their skill from 2013-09-10T11:00:02
Some glory in their birth, some in their skill,
Some in their wealth, some in their bodies’ force,
Some in their garments though new-fangled ill;
Some in their hawks and hounds, s...
Sonnet 090: Then hate me when thou wilt; if ever, now from 2013-09-05T11:00:59
Then hate me when thou wilt; if ever, now;
Now, while the world is bent my deeds to cross,
Join with the spite of fortune, make me bow,
And do not drop in for an after-loss:
...
Sonnet 089: Say that thou didst forsake me for some fault from 2013-09-03T11:00:57
Say that thou didst forsake me for some fault,
And I will comment upon that offence:
Speak of my lameness, and I straight will halt,
Against thy reasons making no defence.
Th...
Sonnet 088: When thou shalt be disposed to set me light from 2013-08-29T11:00:51
When thou shalt be disposed to set me light,
And place my merit in the eye of scorn,
Upon thy side, against myself I’ll fight,
And prove thee virtuous, though thou art forsworn.
Sonnet 087: Farewell! thou art too dear for my possessing from 2013-08-27T11:00
Farewell! thou art too dear for my possessing,
And like enough thou know’st thy estimate,
The charter of thy worth gives thee releasing;
My bonds in thee are all determinate.
Listen
Sonnet 086: Was it the proud full sail of his great verse from 2013-08-22T11:00:57
Was it the proud full sail of his great verse,
Bound for the prize of all too precious you,
That did my ripe thoughts in my brain inhearse,
Making their tomb the womb wherein they...
Sonnet 085: My tongue-tied Muse in manners holds her still from 2013-08-20T11:00:55
My tongue-tied Muse in manners holds her still,
While comments of your praise richly compiled,
Reserve thy character with golden quill,
And precious phrase by all the Muses filed....
Sonnet 084: Who is it that says most, which can say more from 2013-08-15T11:00:53
Who is it that says most, which can say more,
Than this rich praise, that you alone are you,
In whose confine immured is the store
Which should example where your equal grew?
Listen
Sonnet 083: I never saw that you did painting need from 2013-08-13T11:00:51
I never saw that you did painting need,
And therefore to your fair no painting set;
I found, or thought I found, you did exceed
The barren tender of a poet’s debt:
And theref...
Sonnet 082: I grant thou wert not married to my Muse from 2013-08-08T12:00:43
I grant thou wert not married to my Muse,
And therefore mayst without attaint o’erlook
The dedicated words which writers use
Of their fair subject, blessing every book.
Thou ...
Sonnet 081: Or I shall live your epitaph to make from 2013-08-06T12:00:40
Or I shall live your epitaph to make,
Or you survive when I in earth am rotten,
From hence your memory death cannot take,
Although in me each part will be forgotten.
Your nam...
Sonnet 080: O! how I faint when I of you do write from 2013-08-01T12:00:37
O! how I faint when I of you do write,
Knowing a better spirit doth use your name,
And in the praise thereof spends all his might,
To make me tongue-tied speaking of your fame.
Sonnet 079: Whilst I alone did call upon thy aid from 2013-07-30T12:00:34
Whilst I alone did call upon thy aid,
My verse alone had all thy gentle grace;
But now my gracious numbers are decay’d,
And my sick Muse doth give an other place.
I grant, sw...
Sonnet 078: So oft have I invoked thee for my Muse from 2013-07-25T12:00:30
So oft have I invoked thee for my Muse,
And found such fair assistance in my verse
As every alien pen hath got my use
And under thee their poesy disperse.
Thine eyes, that ta...
Sonnet 077: Thy glass will show thee how thy beauties wear from 2013-07-23T12:00:37
Thy glass will show thee how thy beauties wear,
Thy dial how thy precious minutes waste;
The vacant leaves thy mind’s imprint will bear,
And of this book, this learning mayst thou...
Sonnet 076: Why is my verse so barren of new pride from 2013-07-18T12:00:24
Why is my verse so barren of new pride,
So far from variation or quick change?
Why with the time do I not glance aside
To new-found methods, and to compounds strange?
Why wri...
Sonnet 075: So are you to my thoughts as food to life from 2013-07-16T12:00:20
So are you to my thoughts as food to life,
Or as sweet seasoned showers are to the ground;
And for the peace of you I hold such strife,
As ‘twixt a miser and his wealth is found.<...
Sonnet 074: But be contented when that fell arrest from 2013-07-11T12:00:07
But be contented when that fell arrest
Without all bail shall carry me away,
My life hath in this line some interest,
Which for memorial still with thee shall stay.
When thou...
Sonnet 073: That time of year thou mayst in me behold from 2013-07-09T12:00:04
That time of year thou mayst in me behold,
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet bi...
Sonnet 072: O! lest the world should task you to recite from 2013-07-04T12:00:02
O! lest the world should task you to recite
What merit lived in me, that you should love
After my death,–dear love, forget me quite,
For you in me can nothing worthy prove.
U...
Sonnet 071: No longer mourn for me when I am dead from 2013-07-02T12:00
No longer mourn for me when I am dead
Then you shall hear the surly sullen bell
Give warning to the world that I am fled
From this vile world, with vilest worms to dwell:
Nay...
Sonnet 070: That thou art blamed shall not be thy defect from 2013-06-27T12:00:58
That thou art blamed shall not be thy defect,
For slander’s mark was ever yet the fair;
The ornament of beauty is suspect,
A crow that flies in heaven’s sweetest air.
So thou...
Sonnet 069: Those parts of thee that the world’s eye doth view from 2013-06-25T12:00
Those parts of thee that the world’s eye doth view
Want nothing that the thought of hearts can mend;
All tongues, the voice of souls, give thee that due,
Uttering bare truth, even...
Sonnet 068: Thus is his cheek the map of days outworn from 2013-06-20T12:00:58
Thus is his cheek the map of days outworn,
When beauty lived and died as flowers do now,
Before the bastard signs of fair were born,
Or durst inhabit on a living brow;
Before...
Sonnet 067: Ah! wherefore with infection should he live from 2013-06-18T12:00:55
Ah! wherefore with infection should he live,
And with his presence grace impiety,
That sin by him advantage should achieve
And lace itself with his society?
Why should false ...
Sonnet 066: Tired with all these, for restful death I cry from 2013-06-13T12:00:55
Tired with all these, for restful death I cry,
As, to behold desert a beggar born,
And needy nothing trimm’d in jollity,
And purest faith unhappily forsworn,
And guilded hono...
Sonnet 065: Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea from 2013-06-11T12:00:52
Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea,
But sad mortality o’er-sways their power,
How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea,
Whose action is no stronger than a flo...
Sonnet 064: When I have seen by Time’s fell hand defaced from 2013-06-06T12:00:49
When I have seen by Time’s fell hand defaced
The rich proud cost of outworn buried age;
When sometime lofty towers I see down-razed
And brass eternal slave to mortal rage;
Wh...
Sonnet 063: Against my love shall be, as I am now from 2013-06-04T12:00:41
Against my love shall be, as I am now,
With Time’s injurious hand crush’d and o’er-worn;
When hours have drain’d his blood and fill’d his brow
With lines and wrinkles; when his yo...
Sonnet 062: Sin of self-love possesseth all mine eye from 2013-05-30T12:00:38
Sin of self-love possesseth all mine eye
And all my soul, and all my every part;
And for this sin there is no remedy,
It is so grounded inward in my heart.
Methinks no face s...
Sonnet 061: Is it thy will, thy image should keep open from 2013-05-28T12:00:36
Is it thy will, thy image should keep open
My heavy eyelids to the weary night?
Dost thou desire my slumbers should be broken,
While shadows like to thee do mock my sight?
Is...
Sonnet 060: Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore from 2013-05-23T12:00:34
Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,
So do our minutes hasten to their end;
Each changing place with that which goes before,
In sequent toil all forwards do contend.<...
Sonnet 059: If there be nothing new, but that which is from 2013-05-21T12:00:31
If there be nothing new, but that which is
Hath been before, how are our brains beguil’d,
Which labouring for invention bear amiss
The second burthen of a former child.
Oh th...
Sonnet 058: That god forbid, that made me first your slave from 2013-05-16T12:00:26
That god forbid, that made me first your slave,
I should in thought control your times of pleasure,
Or at your hand the account of hours to crave,
Being your vassal, bound to stay...
Sonnet 057: Being your slave what should I do but tend from 2013-05-14T12:00:24
Being your slave what should I do but tend
Upon the hours, and times of your desire?
I have no precious time at all to spend;
Nor services to do, till you require.
Nor dare I...
Sonnet 056: Sweet love, renew thy force; be it not said from 2013-05-09T12:00:22
Sweet love, renew thy force; be it not said
Thy edge should blunter be than appetite,
Which but to-day by feeding is allayed,
To-morrow sharpened in his former might:
So, lov...
Sonnet 055: Not marble, nor the gilded monuments from 2013-05-07T12:00:20
Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone besmear’d with sluttish ti...
Sonnet 054: O! how much more doth beauty beauteous seem from 2013-05-02T12:00:17
O! how much more doth beauty beauteous seem
By that sweet ornament which truth doth give.
The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem
For that sweet odour, which doth in it live.
Sonnet 053: What is your substance, whereof are you made from 2013-04-30T12:00:15
What is your substance, whereof are you made,
That millions of strange shadows on you tend?
Since every one hath, every one, one shade,
And you but one, can every shadow lend.
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Sonnet 052: So am I as the rich, whose blessed key from 2013-04-25T12:00:32
So am I as the rich, whose blessed key,
Can bring him to his sweet up-locked treasure,
The which he will not every hour survey,
For blunting the fine point of seldom pleasure.
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Sonnet 051: Thus can my love excuse the slow offence from 2013-04-23T12:00:30
Thus can my love excuse the slow offence
Of my dull bearer when from thee I speed:
From where thou art why should I haste me thence?
Till I return, of posting is no need.
O! ...
Sonnet 050: How heavy do I journey on the way from 2013-04-18T12:00:32
How heavy do I journey on the way,
When what I seek, my weary travel’s end,
Doth teach that case and that repose to say,
‘Thus far the miles are measured from thy friend!’
Th...
Sonnet 049: Against that time, if ever that time come from 2013-04-16T12:00:30
Against that time, if ever that time come,
When I shall see thee frown on my defects,
When as thy love hath cast his utmost sum,
Called to that audit by advis’d respects;
Aga...
Sonnet 048: How careful was I when I took my way from 2013-04-11T12:00:28
How careful was I when I took my way,
Each trifle under truest bars to thrust,
That to my use it might unused stay
From hands of falsehood, in sure wards of trust!
But thou, ...
Sonnet 047: Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took from 2013-04-09T12:00:26
Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took,
And each doth good turns now unto the other:
When that mine eye is famish’d for a look,
Or heart in love with sighs himself doth smoth...
Sonnet 046: Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war from 2013-04-04T12:00:08
Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war,
How to divide the conquest of thy sight;
Mine eye my heart thy picture’s sight would bar,
My heart mine eye the freedom of that right.
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Sonnet 045: The other two, slight air, and purging fire from 2013-04-02T12:00:28
The other two, slight air, and purging fire
Are both with thee, wherever I abide;
The first my thought, the other my desire,
These present-absent with swift motion slide.
For...
Sonnet 044: If the dull substance of my flesh were thought from 2013-03-28T12:00:53
If the dull substance of my flesh were thought,
Injurious distance should not stop my way;
For then despite of space I would be brought,
From limits far remote, where thou dost st...
Sonnet 043: When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see from 2013-03-26T12:00:51
When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see,
For all the day they view things unrespected;
But when I sleep, in dreams they look on thee,
And darkly bright, are bright in dark di...
Sonnet 042: That thou hast her it is not all my grief from 2013-03-21T12:00:50
That thou hast her it is not all my grief,
And yet it may be said I loved her dearly;
That she hath thee is of my wailing chief,
A loss in love that touches me more nearly.
L...
Sonnet 041: Those pretty wrongs that liberty commits from 2013-03-19T12:00:48
Those pretty wrongs that liberty commits,
When I am sometime absent from thy heart,
Thy beauty, and thy years full well befits,
For still temptation follows where thou art.
G...
Sonnet 040: Take all my loves, my love, yea take them all from 2013-03-14T12:00:25
Take all my loves, my love, yea take them all;
What hast thou then more than thou hadst before?
No love, my love, that thou mayst true love call;
All mine was thine, before thou h...
Sonnet 039: O! how thy worth with manners may I sing from 2013-03-12T12:00:24
O! how thy worth with manners may I sing,
When thou art all the better part of me?
What can mine own praise to mine own self bring?
And what is’t but mine own when I praise thee?<...
Sonnet 038: How can my muse want subject to invent from 2013-03-07T12:00:22
How can my muse want subject to invent,
While thou dost breathe, that pour’st into my verse
Thine own sweet argument, too excellent
For every vulgar paper to rehearse?
O! giv...
Sonnet 037: As a decrepit father takes delight from 2013-03-05T12:00:21
As a decrepit father takes delight
To see his active child do deeds of youth,
So I, made lame by Fortune’s dearest spite,
Take all my comfort of thy worth and truth;
For whet...
Sonnet 036: Let me confess that we two must be twain from 2013-02-28T12:00:19
Let me confess that we two must be twain,
Although our undivided loves are one:
So shall those blots that do with me remain,
Without thy help, by me be borne alone.
In our tw...
Sonnet 035: No more be grieved at that which thou hast done from 2013-02-26T12:00:17
No more be grieved at that which thou hast done:
Roses have thorns, and silver fountains mud:
Clouds and eclipses stain both moon and sun,
And loathsome canker lives in sweetest b...
Sonnet 034: Why didst thou promise such a beauteous day from 2013-02-21T12:00:15
Why didst thou promise such a beauteous day,
And make me travel forth without my cloak,
To let base clouds o’ertake me in my way,
Hiding thy bravery in their rotten smoke?
‘T...
Sonnet 033: Full many a glorious morning have I seen from 2013-02-19T12:00:13
Full many a glorious morning have I seen
Flatter the mountain tops with sovereign eye,
Kissing with golden face the meadows green,
Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy;
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Sonnet 032: If thou survive my well-contented day from 2013-02-14T12:00:26
If thou survive my well-contented day,
When that churl Death my bones with dust shall cover
And shalt by fortune once more re-survey
These poor rude lines of thy deceased lover,
Sonnet 031: Thy bosom is endeared with all hearts from 2013-02-12T12:00:24
Thy bosom is endeared with all hearts,
Which I by lacking have supposed dead;
And there reigns Love, and all Love’s loving parts,
And all those friends which I thought buried.
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Sonnet 030: When to the sessions of sweet silent thought from 2013-02-07T12:00:22
When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
I summon up remembrance of things past,
I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,
And with old woes new wail my dear time’s waste:
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Sonnet 029: When in disgrace with Fortune and men’s eyes from 2013-02-05T12:00:20
When in disgrace with Fortune and men’s eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wis...
Sonnet 028: How can I then return in happy plight from 2013-01-31T12:00:59
How can I then return in happy plight,
That am debarred the benefit of rest?
When day’s oppression is not eas’d by night,
But day by night and night by day oppress’d,
And eac...
Sonnet 027: Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed from 2013-01-29T12:00:57
Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed,
The dear repose for limbs with travel tired;
But then begins a journey in my head
To work my mind, when body’s work’s expired:
For then...
Sonnet 026: Lord of my love, to whom in vassalage from 2013-01-24T12:00:54
Lord of my love, to whom in vassalage
Thy merit hath my duty strongly knit,
To thee I send this written embassage,
To witness duty, not to show my wit:
Duty so great, which w...
Sonnet 025: Let those who are in favour with their stars from 2013-01-22T12:00:53
Let those who are in favour with their stars
Of public honour and proud titles boast,
Whilst I, whom fortune of such triumph bars
Unlook’d for joy in that I honour most.
Grea...
Sonnet 024: Mine eye hath play’d the painter and hath steel’d from 2013-01-17T12:00:59
Mine eye hath play’d the painter and hath steel’d,
Thy beauty’s form in table of my heart;
My body is the frame wherein ’tis held,
And perspective it is best painter’s art.
F...
Sonnet 023: As an unperfect actor on the stage from 2013-01-15T12:00:57
As an unperfect actor on the stage,
Who with his fear is put beside his part,
Or some fierce thing replete with too much rage,
Whose strength’s abundance weakens his own heart;
Sonnet 022: My glass shall not persuade me I am old from 2013-01-10T12:00:54
My glass shall not persuade me I am old,
So long as youth and thou are of one date;
But when in thee time’s furrows I behold,
Then look I death my days should expiate.
For al...
Sonnet 021: So is it not with me as with that Muse from 2013-01-08T12:00:52
So is it not with me as with that Muse,
Stirred by a painted beauty to his verse,
Who heaven itself for ornament doth use
And every fair with his fair doth rehearse,
Making a...
Sonnet 020: A woman’s face with nature’s own hand painted from 2013-01-03T12:00:06
A woman’s face with nature’s own hand painted,
Hast thou, the master mistress of my passion;
A woman’s gentle heart, but not acquainted
With shifting change, as is false women’s f...
Sonnet 019: Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion’s paws from 2013-01-01T12:00:04
Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion’s paws,
And make the earth devour her own sweet brood;
Pluck the keen teeth from the fierce tiger’s jaws,
And burn the long-liv’d phoenix, in h...
Sonnet 018: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? from 2012-12-27T12:00:49
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate;
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;
S...
Sonnet 017: Who will believe my verse in time to come from 2012-12-25T12:00:57
Who will believe my verse in time to come,
If it were fill’d with your most high deserts?
Though yet heaven knows it is but as a tomb
Which hides your life, and shows not half you...
Sonnet 016: But wherefore do not you a mightier way from 2012-12-20T12:00:36
But wherefore do not you a mightier way
Make war upon this bloody tyrant, Time?
And fortify yourself in your decay
With means more blessed than my barren rhyme?
Now stand you...
Sonnet 015: When I consider every thing that grows from 2012-12-18T12:00:33
When I consider every thing that grows
Holds in perfection but a little moment,
That this huge stage presenteth nought but shows
Whereon the stars in secret influence comment;
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Sonnet 014: Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck from 2012-12-13T12:00:32
Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck;
And yet methinks I have astronomy,
But not to tell of good or evil luck,
Of plagues, of dearths, or seasons’ quality;
Nor can I for...
Sonnet 013: O! that you were your self; but, love, you are from 2012-12-11T12:00:30
O! that you were your self; but, love, you are
No longer yours, than you your self here live:
Against this coming end you should prepare,
And your sweet semblance to some other gi...
Sonnet 012: When I do count the clock that tells the time from 2012-12-06T12:00:30
When I do count the clock that tells the time,
And see the brave day sunk in hideous night;
When I behold the violet past prime,
And sable curls all silver’d o’er with white;
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Sonnet 011: As fast as thou shalt wane, so fast thou growest from 2012-12-04T12:00:27
As fast as thou shalt wane, so fast thou growest
In one of thine, from that which thou departest;
And that fresh blood which youngly thou bestowest
Thou mayst call thine when thou...
Sonnet 010: For shame deny that thou bear’st love to any from 2012-11-29T12:00:37
For shame deny that thou bear’st love to any,
Who for thy self art so unprovident.
Grant, if thou wilt, thou art beloved of many,
But that thou none lov’st is most evident:
F...
Sonnet 009: Is it for fear to wet a widow’s eye from 2012-11-27T12:00:12
Is it for fear to wet a widow’s eye,
That thou consumest thyself in single life?
Ah! if thou issueless shalt hap to die,
The world will wail thee, like a makeless wife;
The w...
Sonnet 008: Music to hear, why hear’st thou music sadly? from 2012-11-22T12:00:31
Music to hear, why hear’st thou music sadly?
Sweets with sweets war not, joy delights in joy:
Why lov’st thou that which thou receiv’st not gladly,
Or else receiv’st with pleasure...
Sonnet 007: Lo! in the orient when the gracious light from 2012-11-20T12:00:32
Lo! in the orient when the gracious light
Lifts up his burning head, each under eye
Doth homage to his new-appearing sight,
Serving with looks his sacred majesty;
And having ...
Sonnet 006: Then let not winter’s ragged hand deface from 2012-11-15T12:00:08
Then let not winter’s ragged hand deface,
In thee thy summer, ere thou be distilled:
Make sweet some vial; treasure thou some place
With beauty’s treasure ere it be self-killed.
Sonnet 005: Those hours, that with gentle work did frame from 2012-11-13T12:00:13
Those hours, that with gentle work did frame
The lovely gaze where every eye doth dwell,
Will play the tyrants to the very same
And that unfair which fairly doth excel;
For n...
Sonnet 004: Unthrifty loveliness, why dost thou spend from 2012-11-08T12:00:13
Unthrifty loveliness, why dost thou spend
Upon thy self thy beauty’s legacy?
Nature’s bequest gives nothing, but doth lend,
And being frank she lends to those are free:
Then,...
Sonnet 003: Look in thy glass and tell the face thou viewest from 2012-11-06T12:00:23
Look in thy glass and tell the face thou viewest
Now is the time that face should form another,
Whose fresh repair if now thou not renewest,
Thou dost beguile the world, unbless s...
Sonnet 002: When forty winters shall besiege thy brow from 2012-11-01T12:00:27
When forty winters shall besiege thy brow
And dig deep trenches in thy beauty’s field,
Thy youth’s proud livery, so gazed on now,
Will be a tottered weed of small worth held.
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Sonnet 001: From fairest creatures we desire increase from 2012-10-30T12:00:56
From fairest creatures we desire increase,
That thereby beauty’s rose might never die,
But as the riper should by time decease,
His tender heir might bear his memory.
But tho...
Sonnet 000: Introduction from 2012-10-21T13:21:01
Mark Chatterley and Thierry Heles take you through each of Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets one by one in this amazing podcast series. Explore these amazing poems as they do and improve your knowledge ...
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