Complete SonnetsWithout a doubt the most important of Shakespeare's nondramatic works, the sonnets have engendered reams of scholarly disputation as to the identity of "the dark lady" and the "lovely boy" to whom the vast majority are addressed. Controversy has also long simmered over the full name of the "W.H." of the dedication. What is not in dispute is the superior quality of these lyrics, which rank among the finest sonnets ever written — in any language. |
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... famine where abundance lies , Thyself thy foe , to thy sweet self too cruel . Thou that art now the world's fresh ornament , And only herald to the gaudy spring , Within thine own bud buriest thy content , And , 1 The Sonnets.
... thyself alone , Thou of thyself thy sweet self dost deceive . Then how , when nature calls thee to be gone , What acceptable audit canst thou leave ? Thy unus'd beauty must be tomb'd with thee , Which , used , lives th ' executor to be ...
... thyself to breed another thee , Or ten times happier , be it ten for one ; Ten times thyself were happier than thou art , If ten of thine ten times refigur'd thee : Then what could Death do if thou shouldst depart , Leaving thee living ...
... thyself art so unprovident . Grant if thou wilt thou art belov'd of many , But that thou none lov'st is most evident ; For thou art so possess'd with murderous hate , That'gainst thyself thou stick'st not to conspire , Seeking that ...
... thyself to store thou wouldst convert : Or else of thee this I prognosticate , Thy end is truth's and beauty's doom and date . XV . When I consider every thing that grows Holds in perfection but a little moment , That this huge stage ...