Tweetspeak Poetry

  • Home
  • FREE prompts
  • Earth Song
  • Every Day Poems—Subscribe! ✨
  • Teaching Tools
  • Books, Etc.
  • Patron Love

William Shakespeare Sonnet Library

Top 10 Best Shakespeare Sonnets

shakespeare garden william shakespeare sonnet library
Top 10 Best Shakespeare Sonnets

William Shakespeare Sonnet Library: All 154 Sonnets!

I. (1) From fairest creatures we desire increase

II. (2) When forty winters shall beseige thy brow

III. (3) Look in thy glass, and tell the face thou viewest

IV. (4) Unthrifty loveliness, why dost thou spend

V. (5) Those hours, that with gentle work did frame

VI. (6) Then let not winter’s ragged hand deface

VII. (7) Lo! in the orient when the gracious light

VIII. (8) Music to hear, why hear’st thou music sadly?

IX. (9) Is it for fear to wet a widow’s eye

X. (10) For shame! deny that thou bear’st love to any
 
How to Write a Form Poem-A Guided Tour of 10 Fabulous Forms-poetry writing book

BUY ‘HOW TO WRITE A FORM POEM’ NOW!

5 star
XI. (11) As fast as thou shalt wane, so fast thou growest

XII. (12) When I do count the clock that tells the time

XIII. (13) O, that you were yourself! but, love, you are

XIV. (14) Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck

XV. (15) When I consider every thing that grows

XVI. (16) But wherefore do not you a mightier way

XVII. (17) Who will believe my verse in time to come

XVIII. (18) Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

XIX. (19) Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion’s paws

XX. (20) A woman’s face with Nature’s own hand painted

XXI. (21)So is it not with me as with that Muse

XXII. (22) My glass shall not persuade me I am old

XXIII. (23) As an unperfect actor on the stage

XXIV. (24) Mine eye hath play’d the painter and hath stell’d

XXV. (25) Let those who are in favour with their stars

XXVI. (26) Lord of my love, to whom in vassalage

XXVII. (27) Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed

XXVIII. (28) How can I then return in happy plight

XXIX. (29) When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes

XXX. (30) When to the sessions of sweet silent thought

XXXI. (31) Thy bosom is endeared with all hearts

XXXII. (32) If thou survive my well-contented day

XXXIII. (33) Full many a glorious morning have I seen

XXIV. (34) Why didst thou promise such a beauteous day

XXXV. (35) No more be grieved at that which thou hast done

XXXVI. (36) Let me confess that we two must be twain

XXXVII. (37) As a decrepit father takes delight

XXXVIII. (38) How can my Muse want subject to invent

XXXIX. (39) O, how thy worth with manners may I sing

XL. (40) Take all my loves, my love, yea, take them all

XLI. (41) Those petty wrongs that liberty commits

XLII. (42) That thou hast her, it is not all my grief

XLIII. (43) When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see

XLIV. (44) If the dull substance of my flesh were thought

XLV. (45) The other two, slight air and purging fire

XLVI. (46) Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war

XLVII. (47) Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took

XLVIII. (48) How careful was I, when I took my way

XLIX. (49) Against that time, if ever that time come

L. (50) How heavy do I journey on the way

LI. (50) Thus can my love excuse the slow offence

LII. (52) So am I as the rich, whose blessed key

LIII. (53) What is your substance, whereof are you made

LIV. (54) O, how much more doth beauty beauteous seem

LV. (55) Not marble, nor the gilded monuments

LVI. (56) Sweet love, renew thy force; be it not said

LVII. (57) Being your slave, what should I do but tend

LVIII. (58) That god forbid that made me first your slave

LIX. (59) If there be nothing new, but that which is

LX. (60) Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore

LXI. (61) Is it thy will thy image should keep open

LXII. (62) Sin of self-love possesseth all mine eye

LXIII. (63) Against my love shall be, as I am now

LXIV. (64) When I have seen by Time’s fell hand defaced

LXV. (65) Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea

LXVI. (66) Tired with all these, for restful death I cry

LXVII. (67) Ah! wherefore with infection should he live

LXVIII. (68) Thus is his cheek the map of days outworn

LXIX. (69) Those parts of thee that the world’s eye doth view

LXX. (70) That thou art blamed shall not be thy defect

LXXI. (71) No longer mourn for me when I am dead

LXXII. (72) O, lest the world should task you to recite

LXIII. (73) That time of year thou mayst in me behold

LXXIV. (74) But be contented: when that fell arrest

LXXV. (75) So are you to my thoughts as food to life

How to Write a Poem 283 high

Buy How to Write a Poem Now!

5 star

LXXVI. (76) Why is my verse so barren of new pride

LXXVII. (77) Thy glass will show thee how thy beauties wear

LXVIII. (78) So oft have I invoked thee for my Muse

LXXIX. (79) Whilst I alone did call upon thy aid

LXXX. (80) O, how I faint when I of you do write

LXXXI. (81) Or I shall live your epitaph to make

LXXXII. (82) I grant thou wert not married to my Muse

LXXXIII. (83) I never saw that you did painting need

LXXXIV. (84) Who is it that says most? which can say more

LXXXV. (85) My tongue-tied Muse in manners holds her still

LXXXVI. (86) Was it the proud full sail of his great verse

LXXXVII. (87) Farewell! thou art too dear for my possessing

LXXXVIII. (88) When thou shalt be disposed to set me light

LXXXVIX. (89) Say that thou didst forsake me for some fault

XC. (90) Then hate me when thou wilt; if ever, now

XCI. (91) Some glory in their birth, some in their skill

XCII. (92) But do thy worst to steal thyself away

XCIII. (93) So shall I live, supposing thou art true

XCIV. (94) They that have power to hurt and will do none

XCV. (95) How sweet and lovely dost thou make the shame

XCVI. (96) Some say thy fault is youth, some wantonness

XCVII. (97) How like a winter hath my absence been

XCVIII. (98) From you have I been absent in the spring

XCIX. (99) The forward violet thus did I chide

C. (100) Where art thou, Muse, that thou forget’st so long

CI. (101) O truant Muse, what shall be thy amends

CII. (102) My love is strengthen’d, though more weak in seeming

CIII. (103) Alack, what poverty my Muse brings forth

CIV. (104) To me, fair friend, you never can be old

CV. (105) Let not my love be call’d idolatry

CVI. (106) When in the chronicle of wasted time

CVII. (107) Not mine own fears, nor the prophetic soul

CVIII. (108) What’s in the brain that ink may character

CIX. (109) O, never say that I was false of heart

CX. (110) Alas, ’tis true I have gone here and there

CXI. (111) O, for my sake do you with Fortune chide

CXII. (112) Your love and pity doth the impression fill

CXIII. (113) Since I left you, mine eye is in my mind

CXIV. (114) Or whether doth my mind, being crown’d with you

CXV. (115) Those lines that I before have writ do lie

CXVI. (116) Let me not to the marriage of true minds

CXVII. (117) Accuse me thus: that I have scanted all

CXVIII. (118) Like as, to make our appetites more keen

CXIX. (119) What potions have I drunk of Siren tears

CXX. (120) That you were once unkind befriends me now

CXXI. (121) ‘Tis better to be vile than vile esteem’d

CXXII. (122) Thy gift, thy tables, are within my brain

CXXIII. (123) No, Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change

CXXIV. (124) If my dear love were but the child of state

CXXV. (125) Were ‘t aught to me I bore the canopy

CXXVI. (126) O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power

CXXVII. (127) In the old age black was not counted fair

CXXVIII. (128) How oft, when thou, my music, music play’st

CXXIX. (129) The expense of spirit in a waste of shame

CXXX. (130) My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun

CXXXI. (131) Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art

CXXXII. (132) Thine eyes I love, and they, as pitying me

CXXXIII. (133) Beshrew that heart that makes my heart to groan

CXXXIV. (134) So, now I have confess’d that he is thine

CXXXV. (135) Whoever hath her wish, thou hast thy ‘Will’

CXXXVI. (136) If thy soul cheque thee that I come so near,

CXXXVII. (137) Thou blind fool, Love, what dost thou to mine eyes

CXXXVIII. (138) When my love swears that she is made of truth

CXXXIX. (139) O, call not me to justify the wrong

CXL. (140) Be wise as thou art cruel; do not press

CXLI. (141) In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes

CXLII. (142) Love is my sin and thy dear virtue hate

CXLIII. (143) Lo! as a careful housewife runs to catch

CXLIV. (144) Two loves I have of comfort and despair

CXLV. (145) Those lips that Love’s own hand did make

CXLVI. (146) Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth

CXLVII. (147) My love is as a fever, longing still

CXLVIII. (148) O me, what eyes hath Love put in my head

CXLIX. (149) Canst thou, O cruel! say I love thee not

CL. (150) O, from what power hast thou this powerful might

CLI. (151) Love is too young to know what conscience is

CLII. (152) In loving thee thou know’st I am forsworn

CLIII. (153) Cupid laid by his brand, and fell asleep

CLIV. (154) The little Love-god lying once asleep

Shakespeare Sonnet Infographic

Quatrain Wreck Sonnet infographic
Want to write a sonnet? Don’t want to write a sonnet, but you have to? Either way, our Sonnet Infographic will help you laugh and write your way through.

Take Your Poet to Work or School: Shakespeare

William Shakespeare cutout
Get a fun illustration of Shakespeare to cut, color, and take with you for Take Your Poet to Work Day (or Take Your Poet to School Week).

 
How to Write a Form Poem-A Guided Tour of 10 Fabulous Forms-poetry writing book

BUY ‘HOW TO WRITE A FORM POEM’ NOW!

5 star

Take How to Read a Poem

Get the Introduction, the Billy Collins poem, and Chapter 1

get the sample now

Welcome to Tweetspeak

New to Tweetspeak Poetry? Start here, in The Mischief Café. You're a regular? Check out our May Menu

Patron Love

❤️

Welcome a little patron love, when you help keep the world poetic.

The Graphic Novel

"Stunning, heartbreaking, and relevant illustrations"

Callie Feyen, teacher

read a summary of The Yellow Wallpaper

meet The Yellow Wallpaper characters

How to Write Poetry

Your Comments

  • Glynn on World War II Had Its Poets, Too
  • Sandra Fox Murphy on World War II Had Its Poets, Too
  • Glynn on Poets and Poems: Kelly Belmonte and “The Mother of All Words”
  • Bethany R. on Poets and Poems: Kelly Belmonte and “The Mother of All Words”

Featured In

We're happy to have been featured in...

The Huffington Post

The Paris Review

The New York Observer

Tumblr Book News

Stay in Touch With Us

Categories

Learn to Write Form Poems

How to Write an Acrostic

How to Write a Ballad

How to Write a Catalog Poem

How to Write a Ghazal

How to Write a Haiku

How to Write an Ode

How to Write a Pantoum

How to Write a Rondeau

How to Write a Sestina

How to Write a Sonnet

How to Write a Villanelle

5 FREE POETRY PROMPTS

Get 5 FREE inbox poetry prompts from the popular book How to Write a Poem

Shakespeare Resources

Poetry Classroom: Sonnet 18

Common Core Picture Poems: Sonnet 73

Sonnet 104 Annotated

Sonnet 116 Annotated

Character Analysis: Romeo and Juliet

Character Analysis: Was Hamlet Sane or Insane?

Why Does Hamlet Wait to Kill the King?

10 Fun Shakespeare Resources

About Shakespeare: Poet and Playwright

Top 10 Shakespeare Sonnets

See all 154 Shakespeare sonnets in our Shakespeare Library!

Explore Work From Black Poets

About Us

  • • A Blessing for Writers
  • • Our Story
  • • Meet Our Team
  • • Literary Citizenship
  • • Poet Laura
  • • Poetry for Life: The 5 Vital Approaches
  • • T. S. Poetry Press – All Books
  • • Contact Us

Write With Us

  • • 5 FREE Poetry Prompts-Inbox Delivery
  • • 30 Days to Richer Writing Workshop
  • • Poetry Prompts
  • • Submissions
  • • The Write to Poetry

Read With Us

  • • All Our Books
  • • Book Club
  • • Every Day Poems—Subscribe! ✨
  • • Literacy Extras
  • • Poems to Listen By: Audio Series
  • • Poet-a-Day
  • • Poets and Poems
  • • 50 States Projects
  • • Charlotte Perkins Gilman Poems Library
  • • Edgar Allan Poe Poems Arts & Experience Library
  • • William Blake Poems Arts & Experience Library
  • • William Shakespeare Sonnet Library

Celebrate With Us

  • • Poem on Your Pillow Day
  • • Poetic Earth Month
  • • Poet in a Cupcake Day
  • • Poetry at Work Day
  • • Random Acts of Poetry Day
  • • Take Your Poet to School Week
  • • Take Your Poet to Work Day

Gift Ideas

  • • Every Day Poems
  • • Our Shop
  • • Everybody Loves a Book!

Connect

  • • Donate
  • • Blog Buttons
  • • By Heart
  • • Shop for Tweetspeak Fun Stuff

Copyright © 2025 Tweetspeak Poetry · FAQ, Disclosure & Privacy Policy