Shakespeare Sonnets- First Lines

Front 1

20

Back 1

A woman's face with Nature's own hand painted

Front 2

117

Back 2

Accuse me thus: that I have scanted all

Front 3

63

Back 3

Against my love shall be, as I am now,

Front 4

49

Back 4

Against that time, if ever that time come,

Front 5

67

Back 5

Ah! wherefore with infection should he live,

Front 6

103

Back 6

Alack, what poverty my Muse brings forth,

Front 7

110

Back 7

Alas, 'tis true I have gone here and there

Front 8

37

Back 8

As a decrepit father takes delight

Front 9

23

Back 9

As an unperfect actor on the stage

Front 10

11

Back 10

As fast as thou shalt wane, so fast thou growest

Front 11

140

Back 11

Be wise as thou art cruel; do not press

Front 12

57

Back 12

Being your slave, what should I do but tend

Front 13

133

Back 13

Beshrew that heart that makes my heart to groan

Front 14

47

Back 14

Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took,

Front 15

74

Back 15

But be contented: when that fell arrest

Front 16

92

Back 16

But do thy worst to steal thyself away,

Front 17

16

Back 17

But wherefore do not you a mightier way

Front 18

149

Back 18

Canst thou, O cruel! say I love thee not,

Front 19

153

Back 19

Cupid laid by his brand, and fell asleep:

Front 20

19

Back 20

Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws,

Front 21

87

Back 21

Farewell! thou art too dear for my possessing,

Front 22

10

Back 22

For shame! deny that thou bear'st love to any,

Front 23

1

Back 23

From fairest creatures we desire increase,

Front 24

98

Back 24

From you have I been absent in the spring,

Front 25

33

Back 25

Full many a glorious morning have I seen

Front 26

28

Back 26

How can I then return in happy plight,

Front 27

38

Back 27

How can my Muse want subject to invent,

Front 28

48

Back 28

How careful was I, when I took my way,

Front 29

50

Back 29

How heavy do I journey on the way,

Front 30

97

Back 30

How like a winter hath my absence been

Front 31

128

Back 31

How oft, when thou, my music, music play'st,

Front 32

95

Back 32

How sweet and lovely dost thou make the shame

Front 33

82

Back 33

I grant thou wert not married to my Muse

Front 34

83

Back 34

I never saw that you did painting need

Front 35

124

Back 35

If my dear love were but the child of state,

Front 36

44

Back 36

If the dull substance of my flesh were thought,

Front 37

59

Back 37

If there be nothing new, but that which is

Front 38

32

Back 38

If thou survive my well-contented day,

Front 39

136

Back 39

If thy soul check thee that I come so near,

Front 40

141

Back 40

In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes,

Front 41

152

Back 41

In loving thee thou know'st I am forsworn,

Front 42

127

Back 42

In the old days black was not counted fair

Front 43

9

Back 43

Is it for fear to wet a widow's eye

Front 44

61

Back 44

Is it thy will thy image should keep open

Front 45

36

Back 45

Let me confess that we two must be twain,

Front 46

116

Back 46

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Front 47

105

Back 47

Let not my love be call'd idolatry,

Front 48

25

Back 48

Let those who are in favour with their stars

Front 49

60

Back 49

Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,

Front 50

118

Back 50

Like as to make our appetites more keen

Front 51

143

Back 51

Lo! as a careful housewife runs to catch

Front 52

7

Back 52

Lo! in the orient when the gracious light

Front 53

3

Back 53

Look in thy glass, and tell the face thou viewest

Front 54

26

Back 54

Lord of my love, to whom in vassalage

Front 55

142

Back 55

Love is my sin and thy dear virtue hate,

Front 56

151

Back 56

Love is too young to know what conscience is;

Front 57

46

Back 57

Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war

Front 58

24

Back 58

Mine eye hath play'd the painter and hath stell'd

Front 59

8

Back 59

Music to hear, why hear'st thou music sadly?

Front 60

22

Back 60

My glass shall not persuade me I am old,

Front 61

147

Back 61

My love is as a fever, longing still

Front 62

102

Back 62

My love is strengthen'd, though more weak in seeming;

Front 63

130

Back 63

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;

Front 64

85

Back 64

My tongue-tied Muse in manners holds her still,

Front 65

71

Back 65

No longer mourn for me when I am dead

Front 66

35

Back 66

No more be grieved at that which thou hast done:

Front 67

123

Back 67

No, Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change:

Front 68

14

Back 68

Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck;

Front 69

55

Back 69

Not marble, nor the gilded monuments

Front 70

107

Back 70

Not mine own fears, nor the prophetic soul

Front 71

148

Back 71

O me, what eyes hath Love put in my head,

Front 72

126

Back 72

O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power

Front 73

101

Back 73

O truant Muse, what shall be thy amends

Front 74

139

Back 74

O, call not me to justify the wrong

Front 75

111

Back 75

O, for my sake do you with Fortune chide,

Front 76

150

Back 76

O, from what power hast thou this powerful might

Front 77

80

Back 77

O, how I faint when I of you do write,

Front 78

54

Back 78

O, how much more doth beauty beauteous seem

Front 79

39

Back 79

O, how thy worth with manners may I sing,

Front 80

72

Back 80

O, lest the world should task you to recite

Front 81

109

Back 81

O, never say that I was false of heart,

Front 82

13

Back 82

O, that you were yourself! but, love, you are

Front 83

81

Back 83

Or I shall live your epitaph to make,

Front 84

114

Back 84

Or whether doth my mind, being crown'd with you,

Front 85

146

Back 85

Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth,

Front 86

89

Back 86

Say that thou didst forsake me for some fault,

Front 87

18

Back 87

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Front 88

62

Back 88

Sin of self-love possesseth all mine eye

Front 89

65

Back 89

Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea,

Front 90

113

Back 90

Since I left you, mine eye is in my mind;

Front 91

52

Back 91

So am I as the rich, whose blessed key

Front 92

75

Back 92

So are you to my thoughts as food to life,

Front 93

21

Back 93

So is it not with me as with that Muse

Front 94

78

Back 94

So oft have I invoked thee for my Muse

Front 95

93

Back 95

So shall I live, supposing thou art true,

Front 96

134

Back 96

So,now I have confessed that he is thine,

Front 97

91

Back 97

Some glory in their birth, some in their skill,

Front 98

96

Back 98

Some say thy fault is youth, some wantonness;

Front 99

56

Back 99

Sweet love, renew thy force; be it not said

Front 100

40

Back 100

Take all my loves, my love, yea, take them all;

Front 101

58

Back 101

That god forbid that made me first your slave,

Front 102

70

Back 102

That thou art blamed shall not be thy defect,

Front 103

42

Back 103

That thou hast her, it is not all my grief,

Front 104

73

Back 104

That time of year thou mayst in me behold

Front 105

120

Back 105

That you were once unkind befriends me now,

Front 106

129

Back 106

The expense of spirit in a waste of shame

Front 107

99

Back 107

The forward violet thus did I chide:

Front 108

154

Back 108

The little Love-god lying once asleep

Front 109

45

Back 109

The other two, slight air and purging fire,

Front 110

90

Back 110

Then hate me when thou wilt; if ever, now;

Front 111

6

Back 111

Then let not winter's ragged hand deface

Front 112

94

Back 112

They that have power to hurt and will do none,

Front 113

132

Back 113

Thine eyes I love, and they, as pitying me,

Front 114

5

Back 114

Those hours, that with gentle work did frame

Front 115

115

Back 115

Those lines that I before have writ do lie,

Front 116

145

Back 116

Those lips that Love's own hand did make

Front 117

69

Back 117

Those parts of thee that the world's eye doth view

Front 118

41

Back 118

Those pretty wrongs that liberty commits,

Front 119

131

Back 119

Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art,

Front 120

137

Back 120

Thou blind fool, Love, what dost thou to mine eyes,

Front 121

51

Back 121

Thus can my love excuse the slow offence

Front 122

68

Back 122

Thus is his cheek the map of days outworn,

Front 123

31

Back 123

Thy bosom is endeared with all hearts,

Front 124

122

Back 124

Thy gift, thy tables, are within my brain

Front 125

77

Back 125

Thy glass will show thee how thy beauties wear,

Front 126

66

Back 126

Tired with all these, for restful death I cry,

Front 127

121

Back 127

'Tis better to be vile than vile esteem'd,

Front 128

104

Back 128

To me, fair friend, you never can be old,

Front 129

144

Back 129

Two loves I have of comfort and despair,

Front 130

4

Back 130

Unthrifty loveliness, why dost thou spend

Front 131

86

Back 131

Was it the proud full sail of his great verse,

Front 132

27

Back 132

Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed,

Front 133

125

Back 133

Were 't aught to me I bore the canopy,

Front 134

53

Back 134

What is your substance, whereof are you made,

Front 135

119

Back 135

What potions have I drunk of Siren tears,

Front 136

108

Back 136

What's in the brain that ink may character

Front 137

2

Back 137

When forty winters shall beseige thy brow,

Front 138

15

Back 138

When I consider every thing that grows

Front 139

12

Back 139

When I do count the clock that tells the time,

Front 140

64

Back 140

When I have seen by Time's fell hand defaced

Front 141

106

Back 141

When in the chronicle of wasted time

Front 142

43

Back 142

When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see,

Front 143

138

Back 143

When my love swears that she is made of truth

Front 144

88

Back 144

When thou shalt be disposed to set me light,

Front 145

30

Back 145

When to the sessions of sweet silent thought

Front 146

29

Back 146

When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,

Front 147

100

Back 147

Where art thou, Muse, that thou forget'st so long

Front 148

79

Back 148

Whilst I alone did call upon thy aid,

Front 149

84

Back 149

Who is it that says most? which can say more

Front 150

17

Back 150

Who will believe my verse in time to come,

Front 151

135

Back 151

Whoever hath her wish, thou hast thy 'Will,'

Front 152

34

Back 152

Why didst thou promise such a beauteous day,

Front 153

76

Back 153

Why is my verse so barren of new pride,

Front 154

112

Back 154

Your love and pity doth the impression fill