Shakespeare sonnet games

In this first of two linked sonnets, the poet confesses that everything he sees is transformed into an image of…. In a continuation of s.

The poet acknowledges that the very fact that his love has grown makes his earlier poems about the fullness and…. The poet here meditates on what he sees as the truest and strongest kind of love, that between minds.

In this first of a group of four sonnets of self-accusation and of attempts at explanation, the poet lists the…. In this second sonnet of self-accusation, the poet uses analogies of eating and of purging to excuse his infidelities. Filled with self-disgust at having subjected himself to so many evils in the course of his infidelity, the poet nevertheless….

In this fourth sonnet about his unkindness to the beloved, the poet comforts himself with the memory of the time…. The poet responds to slurs about his behavior by claiming that he is no worse and is perhaps better than…. The poet repeats an idea from s. In this difficult and much-discussed sonnet, the poet declares the permanence and wisdom of his love. The poet, in apparent response to accusation, claims that his love and, perhaps, his poetry of praise is not basely…. The poet acknowledges that the beloved young man grows lovelier with time, as if Nature has chosen him as her….

The poet defends his love of a mistress who does not meet the conventional standard of beauty by claiming that…. This sonnet uses the conventional poetic idea of the poet envying an object being touched by the beloved. Here, the…. The poet disagrees with those who say that his mistress is not beautiful enough to make a lover miserable. The poet begs the mistress to model her heart after her eyes, which, because they are black as if dressed….

In this first of two linked sonnets, the pain felt by the poet as lover of the mistress is multiplied…. In this first of two linked sonnets, the poet apparently begs his promiscuous mistress to allow him back into her…. The poet asks why both his eyes and his heart have fastened on a woman neither beautiful nor chaste. The poet describes a relationship built on mutual deception that deceives neither party: the mistress claims constancy and the poet….

The poet warns the mistress that she would be wiser to pretend to love him and thus avoid driving him…. The poet describes his heart as going against his senses and his mind in its determination to love.

The poet accuses the woman of scorning his love not out of virtue but because she is busy making adulterous…. The poet expands on s. The poet once again as in ss. The poet argues that he has proved his love for the lady by turning against himself when she turns against….

It goes on to argue that only…. This sonnet, like s. Few collections of poems—indeed, few literary works in general—intrigue, challenge, tantalize, a The reading of the present text appears to the left of the square bracket. Unless otherwise noted, t In the movie Shakespeare in Love, it is a conventionally beautiful woman of high social status and a In addition to the following books and articles, see www.

You can get your own copy of this text to keep. Download it to get the same great text as on this site, or purchase a full copy to get the text, plus explanatory notes, illustrations, and more. Download this text. Buy a copy with notes. Contents Sonnet 1 In this first of many sonnets about the briefness of human life, the poet reminds the young man that time….

Sonnet 2 The poet challenges the young man to imagine two different futures, one in which he dies childless, the other in…. Sonnet 3 The poet urges the young man to reflect on his own image in a mirror. Sonnet 4 The poet returns to the idea of beauty as treasure that should be invested for profit. Sonnet 5 In this first of two linked sonnets, the poet compares the young man to summer and its flowers, doomed to….

Sonnet 6 Continuing the argument from s. Sonnet 7 This sonnet traces the path of the sun across the sky, noting that mortals gaze in admiration at the rising…. Sonnet 8 The poet observes the young man listening to music without pleasure, and suggests that the young man hears in the….

Sonnet 9 The poet argues that if the young man refuses to marry for fear of someday leaving behind a grieving widow,…. Sonnet 10 This sonnet, expanding the couplet that closes s. Sonnet 11 The poet once again urges the young man to choose a future in which his offspring carry his vitality forward….

Sonnet 12 As he observes the motion of the clock and the movement of all living things toward death and decay, the…. Sonnet 13 The poet argues that the young man, in refusing to prepare for old age and death by producing a child,…. Sonnet 15 In the first of two linked sonnets, the poet once again examines the evidence that beauty and splendor exist only…. Sonnet 16 Continuing the thought of s. Sonnet 21 The poet contrasts himself with poets who compare those they love to such rarities as the sun, the stars, or….

Sonnet 22 This sonnet plays with the poetic idea of love as an exchange of hearts. Sonnet 23 The poet blames his inability to speak his love on his lack of self-confidence and his too-powerful emotions, and he…. Sonnet 25 The poet contrasts himself with those who seem more fortunate than he. Sonnet 26 The poet, assuming the role of a vassal owing feudal allegiance, offers his poems as a token of duty, apologizing…. Sonnet 27 In this first of two linked sonnets, the poet complains that the night, which should be a time of rest,….

Sonnet 28 Continuing the thought of s. Sonnet 30 The poet pictures his moments of serious reflection as a court session in which his memories are summoned to appear…. Sonnet 31 The poet sees the many friends now lost to him as contained in his beloved. Sonnet 33 The poet describes the sun first in its glory and then after its being covered with dark clouds; this change…. Sonnet 35 The poet excuses the beloved by citing examples of other naturally beautiful objects associated with things hurtful or ugly.

Sonnet 37 The poet feels crippled by misfortune but takes delight in the blessings heaped by nature and fortune on the beloved. Sonnet 38 The poet attributes all that is praiseworthy in his poetry to the beloved, who is his theme and inspiration. Sonnet 39 As in s. Sonnet 41 The poet again tries to forgive the young man, now on the grounds that the young man could hardly have….

Sonnet 42 The poet attempts to excuse the two lovers. Sonnet 43 The poet, separated from the beloved, reflects on the paradox that because he dreams of the beloved, he sees better…. Sonnet 44 In this sonnet, which links with s. Sonnet 45 This sonnet, the companion to s. Sonnet 46 In this first of another pair of sonnets perhaps a witty thank-you for the gift of a miniature portrait , the…. Sonnet 47 After the verdict is rendered in s. Sonnet 48 The poet contrasts the relative ease of locking away valuable material possessions with the impossibility of safeguarding his relationship with….

Sonnet 49 The poet tries to prepare himself for a future in which the beloved rejects him. Sonnet 51 The slow-moving horse of s. Sonnet 52 The poet likens himself to a rich man who visits his treasures rarely so that they remain for him a…. Sonnet 53 Using language from Neoplatonism, the poet praises the beloved both as the essence of beauty its very Idea, which is…. Sonnet 56 The poet addresses the spirit of love and then the beloved, urging that love be reinvigorated and that the present….

Sonnet 57 In this and the following sonnet, the poet presents his relationship with the beloved as that of servant and master…. Sonnet 58 This sonnet repeats the ideas and some of the language of s. Sonnet 61 The poet first wonders if the beloved is deliberately keeping him awake by sending dream images to spy on him,…. Sonnet 62 The poet accuses himself of supreme vanity in that he thinks so highly of himself.

Sonnet 63 By preserving the youthful beauty of the beloved in poetry, the poet makes preparation for the day that the beloved…. Sonnet 64 Signs of the destructive power of time and decay—such as fallen towers and eroded beaches—force the poet to admit that…. Sonnet 65 In the face of the terrible power of Time, how, the poet asks, can beauty survive? Sonnet 66 The poet lists examples of the societal wrongs that have made him so weary of life that he would wish….

Sonnet 67 In this first of two linked sonnets, the poet asks why the beautiful young man should live in a society…. Sonnet 68 Continuing the argument of s. Sonnet 69 The poet tells the young man that while the world praises his outward beauty, those who look into his inner….

Sonnet 70 The poet tells the young man that the attacks on his reputation do not mean that he is flawed, since…. Sonnet 71 In this first of a series of four sonnets in which the poet addresses his own death and its effect…. Sonnet 72 Continuing from s.

Sonnet 73 The poet describes himself as nearing the end of his life. Sonnet 74 In this sonnet, which continues from s. Sonnet 75 The poet compares himself to a miser with his treasure. Sonnet 76 The poet poses the question of why his poetry never changes but keeps repeating the same language and technique. Sonnet 77 This sonnet seems to have been written to accompany the gift of a blank notebook. Sonnet 78 In this first of a series of three sonnets in which the poet expresses his concern that others are writing….

Sonnet 79 In this sonnet, which follows directly from s. Sonnet 80 The poet admits his inferiority to the one who is now writing about the beloved, portraying the two poets as…. Sonnet 81 The poet, imagining a future in which both he and the beloved are dead, sees himself as being completely forgotten….

Sonnet 82 In this first of two linked sonnets, the poet again addresses the fact that other poets write in praise of…. Sonnet 83 This sonnet continues from s. Sonnet 87 The poet writes as if his relationship with the beloved has ended—and as if that relationship had been a wonderful…. Sonnet 88 In this first of three linked sonnets in which the poet has been or imagines himself someday to be repudiated…. Sonnet 89 This sonnet is a detailed extension of the closing line of s.

Sonnet 90 Continuing from the final line of s. Sonnet 91 In this first of three linked sonnets, the poet sets the love of the beloved above every other treasure, but….

Sonnet 92 Continuing the argument from s. Sonnet 93 The poet explores the implications of the final line of s. Sonnet 94 This sonnet describes a category of especially blessed and powerful people who appear to exert complete control over their lives….

Sonnet 95 In this first of a pair of related poems, the poet accuses the beloved of using beauty to hide a…. Sonnet 96 As in the companion s. Sonnet 97 In this first of three sonnets about a period of separation from the beloved, the poet remembers the time as…. Sonnet 98 The poet here remembers an April separation, in which springtime beauty seemed to him only a pale reflection of the…. Sonnet In this first of a group of four sonnets about a period of time in which the poet has failed….

Sonnet Continuing from s. Sonnet The poet defends his silence, arguing that it is a sign not of lessened love but of his desire, in…. Sonnet The poet, in reading descriptions of beautiful knights and ladies in old poetry, realizes that the poets were trying to….

Sonnet This sonnet celebrates an external event that had threatened to be disastrous but that has turned out to be wonderful…. Sonnet The poet explains that his repeated words of love and praise are like daily prayer; though old, they are always…. Sonnet The poet defends his infidelities, arguing that his return washes away the blemish of his having left.

Sonnet The poet confesses to having been unfaithful to the beloved, but claims that his straying has rejuvenated him and made…. Sonnet In this first of two linked poems, the poet blames Fortune for putting him in a profession that led to…. Sonnet The pity asked for in s.

Sonnet In this first of two linked sonnets, the poet confesses that everything he sees is transformed into an image of…. Sonnet In a continuation of s. Sonnet The poet acknowledges that the very fact that his love has grown makes his earlier poems about the fullness and…. Sonnet The poet here meditates on what he sees as the truest and strongest kind of love, that between minds.

Sonnet In this first of a group of four sonnets of self-accusation and of attempts at explanation, the poet lists the…. Sonnet In this second sonnet of self-accusation, the poet uses analogies of eating and of purging to excuse his infidelities. Sonnet Filled with self-disgust at having subjected himself to so many evils in the course of his infidelity, the poet nevertheless…. Sonnet In this fourth sonnet about his unkindness to the beloved, the poet comforts himself with the memory of the time….

Sonnet 80 11 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.

But since your worth, wide as the ocean is, The humble as the proudest sail doth bear, My saucy bark inferior far to his On your broad main doth wilfully appear. Your shallowest help will hold me up afloat Whilst he upon your soundless deep doth ride; Or being wrecked, I am a worthless boat, He of tall building and of goodly pride. Then if he thrive and I be cast away, The worst was this: my love was my decay.

For all that beauty that doth cover thee Is but the seemly raiment of my heart, Which in thy breast doth live, as thine in me.

How can I then be elder than thou art? O therefore, love, be of thyself so wary As I, not for myself, but for thee will, Bearing thy heart, which I will keep so chary As tender nurse her babe from faring ill. Sonnet 3 13 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 some mother.

For where is she so fair whose uneared womb Disdains the tillage of thy husbandry? Or who is he so fond will be the tomb Of his self-love, to stop posterity? But if the while I think on thee, dear friend, All losses are restored, and sorrows end. Yet do thy worst, old Time! Despite thy wrong My love shall in my verse ever live young. Sonnet 53 17 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. In all external grace you have some part, But you like none, none you, for constant heart. Sonnet 86 20 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 grew?

Was it his spirit, by spirits taught to write Above a mortal pitch, that struck me dead? No, neither he, nor his compeers by night Giving him aid, my verse astonished. He, nor that affable familiar ghost Which nightly gulls him with intelligence, As victors of my silence cannot boast; I was not sick of any fear from thence: But when your countenance filled up his line, Then lacked I matter; that enfeebled mine.

Or on my frailties why are frailer spies, Which in their wills count bad that I think good? No, I am that I am; and they that level At my abuses reckon up their own: I may be straight though they themselves be bevel; By their rank thoughts my deeds must not be shown, Unless this general evil they maintain: All men are bad and in their badness reign..

To win me soon to hell, my female evil Tempteth my better angel from my side, And would corrupt my saint to be a devil, Wooing his purity with her foul pride. Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young, Although she knows my days are past the best, Simply I credit her false-speaking tongue: On both sides thus is simple truth suppressed. But wherefore says she not she is unjust? And wherefore say not I that I am old?

Therefore I lie with her and she with me, And in our faults by lies we flattered be. Understanding these sonnets can be tough. The archaic language and the lack of context make them a real challenge for actors. I actually find unpacking a Shakespearean sonnet can be more difficult than a Shakespeare monologue in many cases. However, if we want to truly understand these wonderful sonnets, we must investigate them thoroughly.

Here is my process for unlocking the sense and beauty of these sonnets:. Make sure you understand each thought. You have to understand every word, every line and every thought. There are a lot of resources out there for your sonnets. Look up the context of your sonnet. Who is Shakespeare talking to and why is he saying these words?