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William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

Sonnet CI: O Truant Muse, What Shall Be Thy Amends

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, Muse. Wilt thou not haply say,
“Truth needs no colour with his colour fixed,
Beauty no pencil, beauty’s truth to lay,
But best is best, if never intermixed”?
Because he needs no praise, wilt thou be dumb?
Excuse not silence so, for’t lies in thee
To make him much outlive a gilded tomb
And to be praised of ages yet to be.
   Then do thy office, Muse; I teach thee how
   To make him seem, long hence, as he shows now.

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Other works by William Shakespeare...
Sonnet XXXVIII: How Can my Muse Want Subject to Invent

How can my Muse want subject to i… While thou dost breathe, that pour… Thine own sweet argument, too exce… For every vulgar paper to rehearse… O, give thyself the thanks, if aug…
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Silvia

WHO is Silvia? What is she?    That all our swains commend her… Holy, fair, and wise is she;    The heaven such grace did lend… That she might admired be.
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Sonnet VII

Lo! in the orient when the graciou… Lifts up his burning head, each un… Doth homage to his new-appearing s… Serving with looks his sacred maje… And having climb’d the steep-up he…
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Sonnet LXXXVIII

When thou shalt be disposed to set… And place my merit in the eye of s… Upon thy side against myself I’ll… And prove thee virtuous, though th… With mine own weakness being best…
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Sonnet 129: Th’ Expense of Spirit in a Waste of Shame

Th’ expense of spirit in a waste o… Is lust in action; and, till actio… Is perjured, murderous, bloody ful… Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not… Enjoyed no sooner but despisèd str…
Portrait of a Venetian Woman, by Albrecht Dürer
Sonnet II: When forty winters shall beseige thy brow

When forty winters shall beseige t… And dig deep trenches in thy beaut… Thy youth’s proud livery, so gazed… Will be a tatter’d weed, of small… Then being ask’d where all thy bea…
Sonnet LXXII: O, Lest the World Should Task You to Recite

O, lest the world should task you… What merit lived in me that you sh… After my death, dear love, forget… For you in me can nothing worthy p… Unless you would devise some virtu…
From Venus and Adonis

But, lo! from forth a copse that n… A breeding jennet, lusty, young, a… Adonis’ trampling courser doth esp… And forth she rushes, snorts and n… The strong-neck’d steed, being tie…
Bridal Song

ROSES, their sharp spines being… Not royal in their smells alone,    But in their hue; Maiden pinks, of odour faint, Daisies smell-less, yet most quain…
 1
When That I Was and a Little Tiny Boy

When that I was and a little tiny… With hey, ho, the wind and the rai… A foolish thing was but a toy, For the rain it raineth every day. But when I came to man’s estate,
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Sonnet LXXI: No Longer Mourn for Me When I Am Dead

No longer mourn for me when I am… Than you shall hear the surly sull… Give warning to the world that I… From this vile world with vilest w… Nay if you read this line, remembe…
 1
Sonnet 15:

When I consider everything that g… Holds in perfection but a little m… That this huge stage presenteth no… Whereon the stars in secret influe… When I perceive that men as plant…
Sonnet I: From fairest creatures we desire increase

From fairest creatures we desire i… That thereby beauty’s rose might n… But as the riper should by time de… His tender heir might bear his mem… But thou, contracted to thine own…
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Sonnet XXI: So Is It Not With Me as With That Muse

So is it not with me as with that… Stirred by a painted beauty to his… Who heaven it self for ornament do… And every fair with his fair doth… Making a couplement of proud compa…
Under the Greenwood Tree

Under the greenwood tree Who loves to lie with me, And turn his merry note Unto the sweet bird’s throat, Come hither, come hither, come hit…
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