William Shakespeare's name is synonymous with many of the famous lines he wrote in his plays and prose. Yet his poems are not nearly as recognizable to many as the characters and famous
monologues from his many plays.
In Shakespeare's era (1564-1616), it was not profitable but very fashionable to write poetry. It also provided credibility to his talent as a writer and helped to enhance his social standing.
It seems writing poetry was something he greatly enjoyed and did mainly for himself at times when he was not consumed with writing a play. Because of their more private nature, few poems,
particularly long-form poems, have been published.
The two longest works that scholars agree were written by Shakespeare are entitled Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece.
Both dedicated to the Honorable Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, who seems to have acted as a sponsor and encouraging benefactor of Shakespeare's work for a brief time.
Both of these poems contain dozens of stanzas and comment on the depravity of unwanted sexual advances, showing themes throughout of guilt, lust, and moral confusion. In Venus and Adonis, an
innocent Adonis must reject the sexual advances of Venus. Conversely in The Rape of Lucrece, the honorable and virtuous wife Lucrece is raped a character overcome with lust, Tarquin. The dedication
to Wriothesley is much warmer in the second poem, suggesting a deepening of their relationship and Shakespeare's appreciation of his support.
A third and shorter narrative poem, A Lover's Complaint, was printed in the first collection of Shakespeare's sonnets. Most scholars agree now that it was also
written by Shakespeare, though that was contested for some time. The poem tells the story of a young woman who is driven to misery by a persuasive suitor's attempts to seduce her. It is not regarded by
critics to be his finest work.
Another short poem, The Phoenix and the Turtle, despairs the death of a legendary phoenix and his faithful turtle dove lover. It speaks to the frailty of love
and commitment in a world where only death is certain.
There are 152 short sonnets attributed to Shakespeare. Among them, the most famous ones are Sonnet 29, Sonnet 71, and
Sonnet 55. As a collection, narrative sequence of his Sonnets speaks to Shakespeare's deep insecurity and jealousy as a lover, his grief at separation, and his
delight in sharing beautiful experiences with his romantic counterparts. However, few scholars believe that the sequence of the sonnets accurately depicts the order in which they were written.
Because Shakespeare seemed to write primarily for his own private audience, dating these short jewels of literature has been next to impossible.
Within the sonnets Shakespeare seems to have two deliberate series: one describing his all consuming lust for a married woman with a dark complexion (the Dark Lady),
and one about his confused love feelings for a handsome young man (the Fair Youth). This dichotomy has been widely studied and debated and it remains unclear as to if the subjects represented real
people or two opposing sides to Shakespeare's own personality.
Though some of Shakespeare's poetry was published without his permission in his lifetime, in texts such as The Passionate Pilgrim, the majority of the sonnets
were published in 1609 by Thomas Thorpe. Before that time, it appears that Shakespeare would only have shared his poetry with a very close inner-circle of friends and loved ones. Thorpe's collection was
the last of Shakespeare's non-dramatic work to be printed before his death.
Critics have praised the sonnets as being profoundly intimate and meditating on the values of love, lust, procreation, and death. Nowaday, Shakespeare is ranked as all-time most popular English
poets on history, along with Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, and Walt Whitman.
| Name |
| Name |
| A Fairy Song |
| A Lover's Complaint |
| A Madrigal |
| All The World's A Stage |
| Antony and Cleopatra, Act II, Scene II [The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne] |
| Aubade |
| Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Winda |
| Bridal Song |
| Dirge |
| Dirge Of The Three Queens |
| Fairy Land I |
| Fairy Land II |
| Fairy Land III |
| Fear No More |
| From The Rape Of Lucrece |
| From Venus And Adonis |
| Full Fathom Five |
| Hark! Hark! The Lark |
| Helen's Soliloqy (All's Well That Ends Well) |
| It Was A Lover And His Lass |
| Juliet's Soliloquy |
| Love |
| Not From The Stars Do I My Judgment Pluck (Sonnet 14) |
| Not Marble Nor The Guilded Monuments (Sonnet 55) |
| Now The Hungry Lion Roars |
| Now, My Co-Mates And Brothers In Exile |
| O Mistress Mine, Where Are You Roaming? (Twelfth Night, Act Ii, Scene Iii) |
| O Never Say That I Was False Of Heart |
| Orpheus With His Lute Made Trees |
| Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day? (Sonnet 18) |
| Sigh No More |
| Silvia |
| Some Say That Ever "Gainst That Season Comes (Hamlet, Act I, Scene I) |
| Sonet Liv |
| Song of the Witches: "Double, double toil and trouble" |
| Sonnet 1: From Fairest Creatures We Desire Increase |
| Sonnet 10: For Shame, Deny That Thou Bear'st Love To Any |
| 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 Strengthened, 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 Called 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 11: As Fast As Thou Shalt Wane, So Fast Thou Grow'st |
| 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 Th' Impression Fill |
| Sonnet 113: Since I Left You, Mine Eye Is In My Mind |
| Sonnet 114: Or Whether Doth My Mind, Being Crowned 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 118: Like As To Make Our Appetite More Keen |
| Sonnet 119: What Potions Have I Drunk Of Siren Tears |
| Sonnet 12: When I Do Count The Clock That Tells The Time |
| Sonnet 120: That You Were Once Unkind Befriends Me Now |
| Sonnet 121:Tis Better To Be Vile Than Vile Esteemed |
| Sonnet 122: Thy Gift, Thy Tables, Are Within My Brain |
| Sonnet 123: No, Time, Thou Shalt Not Boast That I Do Change |
| Sonnet 125: Were'T Aught To Me I Bore The Canopy |
| Sonnet 126: O Thou, My Lovely Boy, Who In Thy Power |
| Sonnet 128: How Oft, When Thou, My Music, Music Play'st |
| Sonnet 129: Th' Expense Of Spirit In A Waste Of Shame |
| Sonnet 13: O, That You Were Your Self! But, Love, You Are |
| 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 Confessed That He Is Thine |
| Sonnet 135: Whoever Hath Her Wish, Thou Hast Thy Will |
| Sonnet 136: If Thy Soul Check 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 14: Not From The Stars Do I My Judgement Pluck |
| 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 Huswife 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 15: When I Consider Every Thing That Grows |
| 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 |
| 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 2: When Forty Winters Shall Besiege Thy Brow |
| 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 Played The Painter And Hath Stelled" |
| 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 30: When To The Sessions Of Sweet Silent Thought |
| Sonnet 31: Thy Bosom Is EndearÈD 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 4: Unthrifty Loveliness, Why Dost Thou Spend |
| Sonnet 40: Take All My Loves, My Love, Yea, Take Them All |
| Sonnet 41: Those Pretty 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 5: Those Hours, That With Gentle Work Did Frame |
| 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 BlessÈD 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 6: Then Let Not Winter's Ragged Hand Deface |
| 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 69: Those Parts Of Thee That The World's Eye Doth View |
| Sonnet 7: Lo In The Orient When The Gracious Light |
| 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 8: Music To Hear, Why Hear'st Thou Music Sadly? |
| 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 9: Is It For Fear To Wet A Widow's Eye |
| 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 C |
| Sonnet Ci |
| Sonnet Cii |
| Sonnet Ciii |
| Sonnet Civ |
| Sonnet Cix |
| Sonnet Cl |
| Sonnet Clii |
| Sonnet Cliii |
| Sonnet Cliv |
| Sonnet Cv |
| Sonnet Cvi |
| Sonnet Cvii |
| Sonnet Cviii |
| Sonnet Cx |
| Sonnet Cxi: O, For My Sake Do You With Fortune Chide |
| Sonnet Cxii |
| Sonnet Cxiii |
| Sonnet Cxiv |
| Sonnet Cxix |
| Sonnet Cxl |
| Sonnet Cxli |
| Sonnet Cxlii |
| Sonnet Cxliii |
| Sonnet Cxliv |
| Sonnet Cxlix |
| Sonnet Cxlv |
| Sonnet Cxlvi |
| Sonnet Cxlvii |
| Sonnet Cxlviii |
| Sonnet Cxv |
| Sonnet Cxvi: Let Me Not To The Marriage Of True Minds |
| Sonnet Cxvii |
| Sonnet Cxviii |
| Sonnet Cxx |
| Sonnet Cxxi |
| Sonnet Cxxii |
| Sonnet Cxxiii |
| Sonnet Cxxix |
| Sonnet Cxxv |
| Sonnet Cxxvi |
| Sonnet Cxxviii |
| Sonnet Cxxxi |
| Sonnet Cxxxii |
| Sonnet Cxxxiii |
| Sonnet Cxxxiv |
| Sonnet Cxxxix |
| Sonnet Cxxxv |
| Sonnet Cxxxvi |
| Sonnet Cxxxviii |
| Sonnet I: From Fairest Creatures We Desire Increase |
| Sonnet Ii: When Forty Winters Shall Besiege Thy Brow |
| Sonnet Iii: Look In Thy Glass, And Tell The Face Thou Viewest |
| Sonnet Iv: Unthrifty Loveliness, Why Dost Thou Spend |
| Sonnet Ix |
| Sonnet L |
| Sonnet Li |
| Sonnet Lii |
| Sonnet Liii |
| Sonnet Lix |
| Sonnet Lv |
| Sonnet Lvi |
| Sonnet Lvii |
| Sonnet Lviii |
| Sonnet Lxix |
| Sonnet Lxv |
| Sonnet Lxvi |
| Sonnet Lxx |
| Sonnet Lxxi |
| Sonnet Lxxii |
| Sonnet Lxxiii |
| Sonnet Lxxiv |
| Sonnet Lxxix |
| Sonnet Lxxv |
| Sonnet Lxxvi |
| Sonnet Lxxvii |
| Sonnet Lxxviii |
| Sonnet Lxxx |
| Sonnet Lxxxi |
| Sonnet Lxxxii |
| Sonnet Lxxxiii |
| Sonnet Lxxxiv |
| Sonnet Lxxxix |
| Sonnet Lxxxv |
| Sonnet Lxxxvi |
| Sonnet Lxxxvii |
| Sonnet Lxxxviii |
| Sonnet V: Those Hours, That With Gentle Work Did Frame |
| Sonnet Vi |
| Sonnet Vii |
| Sonnet Viii |
| Sonnet X |
| Sonnet Xc |
| Sonnet Xci |
| Sonnet Xciii |
| Sonnet Xciv: They That Have Power To Hurt And Will Do None |
| Sonnet Xcix |
| Sonnet Xcv |
| Sonnet Xcvi |
| Sonnet Xcvii |
| Sonnet Xcviii |
| Sonnet Xi |
| Sonnet Xii |
| Sonnet Xiii |
| Sonnet Xiv |
| Sonnet Xix: Devouring Time, Blunt Thou The Lion's Paws |
| Sonnet Xl |
| Sonnet Xli |
| Sonnet Xlii |
| Sonnet Xliii |
| Sonnet Xliv |
| Sonnet Xlix |
| Sonnet Xlv |
| Sonnet Xlvi |
| Sonnet Xlvii |
| Sonnet Xlviii |
| Sonnet Xv: When I Consider Everything That Grows |
| Sonnet Xvi |
| Sonnet Xvii |
| Sonnet Xviii: Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day? |
| Sonnet Xx |
| Sonnet Xxi |
| Sonnet Xxii |
| Sonnet Xxiii |
| Sonnet Xxiv |
| Sonnet Xxix: When, In Disgrace With Fortune And Men's Eyes |
| Sonnet Xxvi |
| Sonnet Xxvii |
| Sonnet Xxviii |
| Sonnet Xxx: When To The Sessions Of Sweet Silent Thought |
| Sonnet Xxxi |
| Sonnet Xxxii: If Thou Survive My Well-Contented Day |
| Sonnet Xxxiii |
| Sonnet Xxxiv |
| Sonnet Xxxix |
| Sonnet Xxxv |
| Sonnet Xxxvi |
| Sonnet Xxxvii |
| Sonnet Xxxviii: How Can My Muse Want Subject To Invent |
| Sonnets Cx: Alas, 'Tis True I Have Gone Here And There |
| Sonnets Cxlvi: Poor Soul, The Centre Of My Sinful Earth |
| Sonnets Cxvi: Let Me Not To The Marriage Of True Minds |
| Sonnets I |
| Sonnets Ii |
| Sonnets Iii |
| Sonnets Iv |
| Sonnets Ix |
| Sonnets Liii: What Is Your Substance, Whereof Are You Made |
| Sonnets Lx: Like As The Waves Make Towards The Pebbl'D Shor |
| Sonnets To The Sundry Notes Of Music |
| Sonnets Vi |
| Sonnets Vii |
| Sonnets Viii |
| Sonnets X |
| Sonnets Xciv: They That Have Power To Hurt And Will Do None |
| Sonnets Xi |
| Sonnets Xii |
| Sonnets Xiii |
| Sonnets Xiv |
| Sonnets Xix: Devouring Time, Blunt Thou The Lion's Paws |
| Sonnets Xv |
| Sonnets Xvi |
| Sonnets Xvii |
| Sonnets Xviii |
| Sonnets Xviii: Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day? |
| Sonnets Xx |
| Sonnets Xxix: When, In Disgrace With Fortune And Men's Eyes |
| Sonnets Xxv: Let Those Who Are In Favour With Their Stars |
| Sonnets Xxx: When To The Sessions Of Sweet Silent Thought |
| Sonnets Xxxiii: Full Many A Glorious Morning Have I Seen |
| Speech: "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears" |
| Spring And Winter |
| St. Crispin's Day Speech: From Henry V |
| Take, O Take Those Lips Away |
| That Time Of Year Thou Mayst In Me Behold (Sonnet 73) |
| The Blossom |
| The Canakin Clink Pub Song (From 'Othello') |
| The Dark Lady Sonnets (127 - 154) |
| The Passionate Pilgrim |
| The Phoenix And The Turtle |
| The Procreation Sonnets (1 - 17) |
| The Quality Of Mercy |
| The Rival Poet Sonnets (78 - 86) |
| To Be, Or Not To Be (Hamlet, Act Iii, Scene I) |
| Twelve O'Clock - Fairy Time |
| Under The Greenwood Tree |
| When In Disgrace With Fortune And Men's Eyes (Sonnet 29) |
| When That I Was And A Little Tiny Boy |
| When To The Sessions Of Sweet Silent Thought (Sonnet 30) |
| Where The Bee Sucks (from The Tempest) |
| William Shakespeare Epitaph |
| Winter |
| Witches Chant (From Macbeth) |