Dr. Vavra's ENL 121 Lit Anthology


Shakespeare's Sonnets

  1 From fairest creatures we desire increase  78 So oft have I invoked thee for my Muse
  2 When forty winters shall besiege thy brow  79 Whilst I alone did call upon thy aid
  3 Look in thy glass and tell the face thou viewest  80 O! how I faint when I of you do write
  4 Unthrifty loveliness, why dost thou spend  81 Or I shall live your epitaph to make
  5 Those hours, that with gentle work did frame  82 I grant thou wert not married to my Muse
  6 Then let not winter's ragged hand deface  83 I never saw that you did painting need
  7 Lo! in the orient when the gracious light  84 Who is it that says most, which can say more
  8 Music to hear, why hear'st thou music sadly?  85 My tongue-tied Muse in manners holds her still
  9 Is it for fear to wet a widow's eye  86 Was it the proud full sail of his great verse
 10 For shame! deny that thou bear'st love to any  87 Farewell! thou art too dear for my possessing
 11 As fast as thou shalt wane, so fast thou grow'st  88 When thou shalt be dispos'd to set me light
 12 When I do count the clock that tells the time  89 Say that thou didst forsake me for some fault
 13 O! that you were your self; but, love you are  90 Then hate me when thou wilt; if ever, now
 14 Not from the stars do I my judgement pluck  91 Some glory in their birth, some in their skill
 15 When I consider every thing that grows  92 But do thy worst to steal thyself away
 16 But wherefore do not you a mightier way  93 So shall I live, supposing thou art true
 17 Who will believe my verse in time to come  94 They that have power to hurt, and will do none
 18 Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?  95 How sweet and lovely dost thou make the shame
 19 Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws  96 Some say thy fault is youth, some wantonness
 20 A woman's face with nature's own hand painted  97 How like a winter hath my absence been
 21 So is it not with me as with that Muse  98 From you have I been absent in the spring
 22 My glass shall not persuade me I am old  99 The forward violet thus did I chide
 23 As an unperfect actor on the stage  100 Where art thou Muse that thou forget'st so long
 24 Mine eye hath play'd the painter and hath stell'd  101 O truant Muse what shall be thy amends
 25 Let those who are in favour with their stars  102 My love is strengthen'd, though more weak in seeming
 26 Lord of my love, to whom in vassalage  103 Alack! what poverty my Muse brings forth
 27 Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed  104 To me, fair friend, you never can be old
 28 How can I then return in happy plight  105 Let not my love be call'd idolatry
 29 When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes  106 When in the chronicle of wasted time
 30 When to the sessions of sweet silent thought  107 Not mine own fears, nor the prophetic soul
 31 Thy bosom is endeared with all hearts  108 What's in the brain, that ink may character
 32 If thou survive my well-contented day  109 O! never say that I was false of heart
 33 Full many a glorious morning have I seen   110 Alas! 'tis true, I have gone here and there
 34 Why didst thou promise such a beauteous day  111 O! for my sake do you with Fortune chide
 35 No more be griev'd at that which thou hast done  112 Your love and pity doth the impression fill
 36 Let me confess that we two must be twain  113 Since I left you, mine eye is in my mind
 37 As a decrepit father takes delight   114 Or whether doth my mind, being crown'd with you
 38 How can my muse want subject to invent  115 Those lines that I before have writ do lie
 39 O! how thy worth with manners may I sing  116 Let me not to the marriage of true minds
 40 Take all my loves, my love, yea take them all  117 Accuse me thus: that I have scanted all
 41 Those pretty wrongs that liberty commits  118 Like as, to make our appetite more keen
 42 That thou hast her it is not all my grief  119 What potions have I drunk of Siren tears
 43 When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see  120 That you were once unkind befriends me now
 44 If the dull substance of my flesh were thought  121 'Tis better to be vile than vile esteem'd
 45 The other two, slight air, and purging fire  122 Thy gift, thy tables, are within my brain
 46 Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war  123 No, Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change
 47 Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took  124 If my dear love were but the child of state
 48 How careful was I when I took my way  125 Were't aught to me I bore the canopy
 49 Against that time, if ever that time come  126 O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power
 50 How heavy do I journey on the way  127 In the old age black was not counted fair
 51 Thus can my love excuse the slow offence  128 How oft when thou, my music, music play'st
 52 So am I as the rich, whose blessed key  129 The expense of spirit in a waste of shame
 53 What is your substance, whereof are you made  130 My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun
 54 O! how much more doth beauty beauteous seem  131 Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art
 55 Not marble, nor the gilded monuments  132 Thine eyes I love, and they, as pitying me
 56 Sweet love, renew thy force; be it not said  133 Beshrew that heart that makes my heart to groan
 57 Being your slave what should I do but tend  134 So, now I have confess'd that he is thine
 58 That god forbid, that made me first your slave  135 Whoever hath her wish, thou hast thy 'Will,'
 59 If there be nothing new, but that which is  136 If thy soul check thee that I come so near
 60 Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore  137 Thou blind fool, Love, what dost thou to mine eyes
 61 Is it thy will, thy image should keep open   138 When my love swears that she is made of truth
 62 Sin of self-love possesseth all mine eye  139 O! call not me to justify the wrong
 63 Against my love shall be as I am now  140 Be wise as thou art cruel; do not press
 64 When I have seen by Time's fell hand defac'd  141 In faith I do not love thee with mine eyes
 65 Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea  142 Love is my sin, and thy dear virtue hate
 66 Tired with all these, for restful death I cry  143 Lo, as a careful housewife runs to catch 
 67 Ah! wherefore with infection should he live  144 Two loves I have of comfort and despair
 68 Thus is his cheek the map of days outworn  145 Those lips that Love's own hand did make
 69 Those parts of thee that the world's eye doth view  146 Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth
 70 That thou art blam'd shall not be thy defect  147 My love is as a fever longing still
 71 No longer mourn for me when I am dead  148 O me! what eyes hath Love put in my head
 72 O! lest the world should task you to recite  149 Canst thou, O cruel! say I love thee not
 73 That time of year thou mayst in me behold   150 O! from what power hast thou this powerful might
 74 But be contented: when that fell arrest  151 Love is too young to know what conscience is
 75 So are you to my thoughts as food to life  152 In loving thee thou know'st I am forsworn
 76 Why is my verse so barren of new pride  153 Cupid laid by his brand and fell asleep
 77 Thy glass will show thee how thy beauties wear  154 The little Love-god lying once asleep