SHAKESPEARE CANON
Reference Page
This is your source for all things Shakespeare, be it summaries, links to text of plays/sonnets, shared bunnies, information on how to follow in the Bard's footsteps, whatever. If you have a prompt to provide, this is the right place to leave it. If you have technical questions about Shakespeare, this is where you ask them. If you need help sorting out which is Edgar and which is Edmund, or can't figure out whether Draco is more Katherina or Bianca, you can ask those here too, and we'll do our best to help.
PLAYS
COMEDIES
Title
Wiki link
SparkNotes link
text
Keywords
The Tempest
wiki
sparknotes
text
magic, kingship, colonialism, the theatre
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
wiki
sparknotes
text
friendship vs love, mistaken identity, cross-dressing, infidelity
The Merry Wives of Windsor
wiki
sparknotes
text
love, marriage, jealousy, revenge, infidelity, class/wealth
Measure for Measure
wiki
sparknotes
text
chastity vs promiscuity, manipulation, sex, hypocrisy
The Comedy of Errors
wiki
sparknotes
text
disguise, appearance vs reality, love, time, coincidence, insanity
Much Ado About Nothing
wiki
sparknotes
text
love, manipulation, deception, infidelity, wordplay
Love's Labour's Lost
wiki
sparknotes
text
academia, chastity, unexpected love, politics
A Midsummer Night's Dream
wiki
sparknotes
text
magic, nature, mischief, lover's quarrels
The Merchant of Venice
wiki
sparknotes
text
religion, politics, homosexuality, fidelity
As You Like It
wiki
sparknotes
text
language, pastoralism, coming-of-age
Taming of the Shrew
wiki
sparknotes
text
temper, favouritism, misogynism
All's Well That Ends Well
wiki
sparknotes
text
marriage, manipulation, cowardice, war
Twelfth Night, or What You Will
wiki
sparknotes
text
cross-dressing, mistaken identity, siblings, unrequited love
The Winter's Tale
wiki
sparknotes
text
infidelity, family, nature
Cymbeline
wiki
sparknotes
text
conspiracy, secrets, disguise, war
TRAGEDIES
Title
Wiki link
SparkNotes link
text
Keywords
Romeo and Juliet
wiki
sparknotes
text
forbidden love, family feud, suicide
Coriolanus
wiki
sparknotes
text
riot, war, politics, revenge
Titus Andronicus
wiki
sparknotes
text
revenge, violence, murder, rape, madness
Timon of Athens
wiki
sparknotes
text
money, society, betrayal
Julius Caesar
wiki
sparknotes
text
betrayal, conspiracy, murder, politics
Macbeth
wiki
sparknotes
text
murder, magic, manipulation, insanity, tyranny
Hamlet
wiki
sparknotes
text
conspiracy, murder, family, revenge, introspection, insanity
Troilus and Cressida
wiki
sparknotes
text
sex, war, thwarted expectations
King Lear
wiki
sparknotes
text
family, betrayal, politics, insanity
Othello
wiki
sparknotes
text
manipulation, race, suspicion, infidelity
Antony and Cleopatra
wiki
sparknotes
text
ambivalence, opposition, politics, war
HISTORIES
Title
Wiki link
SparkNotes link
text
Keywords
King John
wiki
sparknotes
text
alliance, line of succession, self-interest
Richard II
wiki
sparknotes
text
money, law, tyranny
Henry IV, part 1
wiki
sparknotes
text
rebellion, slumming, politics
Henry IV, part 2
wiki
sparknotes
text
politics, coming of age
Henry V
wiki
sparknotes
text
war, assassination, foiled plots
Henry VI, part 1
wiki
sparknotes
text
war, foiled plots, line of succession
Henry VI, part 2
wiki
sparknotes
text
marriage, treason, rebellion
Henry VI, part 3
wiki
sparknotes
text
politics, war, murder, vengeance
Richard III
wiki
sparknotes
text
ambition, jealousy, villainy, regicide
Henry VIII
wiki
sparknotes
text
marriage, religion
OTHER (The Apocrypha, Lost Plays, and Poetry)
Title
Wiki link
SparkNotes link
text
Keywords
The Birth of Merlin
wiki
---
text
love, social class, spirituality/religion, magic
Locrine
wiki
---
text
history, nationality
The London Prodigal
wiki
---
text
money, marriage, disguise
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
wiki
---
text
incest, competition, life and death, fate
The Puritan
wiki
---
text
socioeconomics, deception
The Second Maiden's Tragedy
wiki
---
text
sadism, necrophilia, seduction, manipulation, jealousy
Sir John Oldcastle
wiki
---
text
religion, rebellion, martyrdom
Thomas Lord Cromwell
wiki
---
text
politics, religion, power
The Two Noble Kinsmen
wiki
---
text
friendship, rivalry, love
A Yorkshire Tragedy
wiki
---
text
cruelty, gambling, violence, shame, guilt
Edward III
wiki
---
text
politics, war, seduction
Love's Labour's Won
wiki
---
---
love, marriage
Cardenio
wiki
---
---
love, betrayal
Venus and Adonis
wiki
---
text
love, mythology, aetiology
The Rape of Lucrece
wiki
---
text
rape, suicide, politics
The Passionate Pilgrim
wiki
---
text
love, beauty, time
The Phoenix and the Turtle
wiki
---
text
allegory, idealism, love, death
A Lover's Complaint
wiki
---
text
nature, love, sadness
SONNETS
PROCREATION ARC (themes: beauty, mortality, heritage)
Sonnet 1. From fairest creatures we desire increase
Sonnet 2. When forty winters shall beseige thy brow
Sonnet 3. Look in thy glass, and tell the face thou viewest
Sonnet 4. Unthrifty loveliness, why dost thou spend
Sonnet 5. Those hours, that with gentle work did frame
Sonnet 6. Then let not winter's ragged hand deface
Sonnet 7. Lo! in the orient when the gracious light
Sonnet 8. Music to hear, why hear'st thou music sadly?
Sonnet 9. Is it for fear to wet a widow's eye
Sonnet 10. For shame! deny that thou bear'st love to any
Sonnet 11. As fast as thou shalt wane, so fast thou growest
Sonnet 12. When I do count the clock that tells the time
Sonnet 13. O, that you were yourself! but, love, you are
Sonnet 14. Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck
Sonnet 15. When I consider every thing that grows
Sonnet 16. But wherefore do not you a mightier way
Sonnet 17. Who will believe my verse in time to come
FAIR YOUTH ARC (themes: love, beauty, sex, submission, time, mortality)
Sonnet 18. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Sonnet 19. Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws
Sonnet 20. A woman's face with Nature's own hand painted
Sonnet 21. So is it not with me as with that Muse
Sonnet 22. My glass shall not persuade me I am old
Sonnet 23. As an unperfect actor on the stage
Sonnet 24. Mine eye hath play'd the painter and hath stell'd
Sonnet 25. Let those who are in favour with their stars
Sonnet 26. Lord of my love, to whom in vassalage
Sonnet 27. Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed
Sonnet 28. How can I then return in happy plight
Sonnet 29. When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes
Sonnet 30. When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
Sonnet 31. Thy bosom is endeared with all hearts
Sonnet 32. If thou survive my well-contented day
Sonnet 33. Full many a glorious morning have I seen
Sonnet 34. Why didst thou promise such a beauteous day
Sonnet 35. No more be grieved at that which thou hastdone:
Sonnet 36. Let me confess that we two must be twain
Sonnet 37. As a decrepit father takes delight
Sonnet 38. How can my Muse want subject to invent
Sonnet 39. O, how thy worth with manners may I sing
Sonnet 40. Take all my loves, my love, yea, take them all
Sonnet 41. Those petty wrongs that liberty commits
Sonnet 42. That thou hast her, it is not all my grief
Sonnet 43. When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see
Sonnet 44. If the dull substance of my flesh were thought
Sonnet 45. The other two, slight air and purging fire
Sonnet 46. Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war
Sonnet 47. Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took
Sonnet 48. How careful was I, when I took my way
Sonnet 49. Against that time, if ever that time come
Sonnet 50. How heavy do I journey on the way
Sonnet 51. Thus can my love excuse the slow offence
Sonnet 52. So am I as the rich, whose blessed key
Sonnet 53. What is your substance, whereof are you made
Sonnet 54. O, how much more doth beauty beauteous seem
Sonnet 55. Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
Sonnet 56. Sweet love, renew thy force; be it not said
Sonnet 57. Being your slave, what should I do but tend
Sonnet 58. That god forbid that made me first your slave
Sonnet 59. If there be nothing new, but that which is
Sonnet 60. Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore
Sonnet 61. Is it thy will thy image should keep open
Sonnet 62. Sin of self-love possesseth all mine eye
Sonnet 63. Against my love shall be, as I am now
Sonnet 64. When I have seen by Time's fell hand defaced
Sonnet 65. Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea
Sonnet 66. Tired with all these, for restful death I cry
Sonnet 67. Ah! wherefore with infection should he live
Sonnet 68. Thus is his cheek the map of days outworn
Sonnet 69. Those parts of thee that the world's eye doth view
Sonnet 70. That thou art blamed shall not be thy defect
Sonnet 71. No longer mourn for me when I am dead
Sonnet 72. O, lest the world should task you to recite
Sonnet 73. That time of year thou mayst in me behold
Sonnet 74. But be contented: when that fell arrest
Sonnet 75. So are you to my thoughts as food to life
Sonnet 76. Why is my verse so barren of new pride
Sonnet 77. Thy glass will show thee how thy beauties wear
Sonnet 78. So oft have I invoked thee for my Muse
Sonnet 79. Whilst I alone did call upon thy aid
Sonnet 80. O, how I faint when I of you do write
Sonnet 81. Or I shall live your epitaph to make
Sonnet 82. I grant thou wert not married to my Muse
Sonnet 83. I never saw that you did painting need
Sonnet 84. Who is it that says most? which can say more
Sonnet 85. My tongue-tied Muse in manners holds her still
Sonnet 86. Was it the proud full sail of his great verse
Sonnet 87. Farewell! thou art too dear for my possessing
Sonnet 88. When thou shalt be disposed to set me light
Sonnet 89. Say that thou didst forsake me for some fault
Sonnet 90. Then hate me when thou wilt; if ever, now
Sonnet 91. Some glory in their birth, some in their skill
Sonnet 92. But do thy worst to steal thyself away
Sonnet 93. So shall I live, supposing thou art true
Sonnet 94. They that have power to hurt and will do none
Sonnet 95. How sweet and lovely dost thou make the shame
Sonnet 96. Some say thy fault is youth, some wantonness
Sonnet 97. How like a winter hath my absence been
Sonnet 98. From you have I been absent in the spring
Sonnet 99. The forward violet thus did I chide
Sonnet 100. Where art thou, Muse, that thou forget'st so long
Sonnet 101. O truant Muse, what shall be thy amends
Sonnet 102. My love is strengthen'd, though more weak in seeming
Sonnet 103. Alack, what poverty my Muse brings forth
Sonnet 104. To me, fair friend, you never can be old
Sonnet 105. Let not my love be call'd idolatry
Sonnet 106. When in the chronicle of wasted time
Sonnet 107. Not mine own fears, nor the prophetic soul
Sonnet 108. What's in the brain that ink may character
Sonnet 109. O, never say that I was false of heart
Sonnet 110. Alas, 'tis true I have gone here and there
Sonnet 111. O, for my sake do you with Fortune chide
Sonnet 112. Your love and pity doth the impression fill
Sonnet 113. Since I left you, mine eye is in my mind
Sonnet 114. Or whether doth my mind, being crown'd with you
Sonnet 115. Those lines that I before have writ do lie
Sonnet 116. Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Sonnet 117. Accuse me thus: that I have scanted all
Sonnet 118. Like as, to make our appetites more keen
Sonnet 119. What potions have I drunk of Siren tears
Sonnet 120. That you were once unkind befriends me now
Sonnet 121. 'Tis better to be vile than vile esteem'd
Sonnet 122. Thy gift, thy tables, are within my brain
Sonnet 123. No, Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change
Sonnet 124. If my dear love were but the child of state
Sonnet 125. Were 't aught to me I bore the canopy
Sonnet 126. O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power
DARK LADY ARC (themes: sex, lust, betrayal, infidelity, politics)
Sonnet 127. In the old age black was not counted fair
Sonnet 128. How oft, when thou, my music, music play'st
Sonnet 129. The expense of spirit in a waste of shame
Sonnet 130. My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun
Sonnet 131. Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art
Sonnet 132. Thine eyes I love, and they, as pitying me
Sonnet 133. Beshrew that heart that makes my heart to groan
Sonnet 134. So, now I have confess'd that he is thine
Sonnet 135. Whoever hath her wish, thou hast thy 'Will,'
Sonnet 136. If thy soul cheque thee that I come so near
Sonnet 137. Thou blind fool, Love, what dost thou to mine eyes
Sonnet 138. When my love swears that she is made of truth
Sonnet 139. O, call not me to justify the wrong
Sonnet 140. Be wise as thou art cruel; do not press
Sonnet 141. In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes
Sonnet 142. Love is my sin and thy dear virtue hate
Sonnet 143. Lo! as a careful housewife runs to catch
Sonnet 144. Two loves I have of comfort and despair
Sonnet 145. Those lips that Love's own hand did make
Sonnet 146. Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth
Sonnet 147. My love is as a fever, longing still
Sonnet 148. O me, what eyes hath Love put in my head
Sonnet 149. Canst thou, O cruel! say I love thee not
Sonnet 150. O, from what power hast thou this powerful might
Sonnet 151. Love is too young to know what conscience is
Sonnet 152. In loving thee thou know'st I am forsworn
ALLEGORICAL PAIR
Sonnet 153. Cupid laid by his brand, and fell asleep
Sonnet 154. The little Love-god lying once asleep
Technical Info
Questions? Concerns? Confused about something? Feel free to ask!
This is your source for all things Shakespeare, be it summaries, links to text of plays/sonnets, shared bunnies, information on how to follow in the Bard's footsteps, whatever. If you have a prompt to provide, this is the right place to leave it. If you have technical questions about Shakespeare, this is where you ask them. If you need help sorting out which is Edgar and which is Edmund, or can't figure out whether Draco is more Katherina or Bianca, you can ask those here too, and we'll do our best to help.
PLAYS
COMEDIES
Title
Wiki link
SparkNotes link
text
Keywords
The Tempest
wiki
sparknotes
text
magic, kingship, colonialism, the theatre
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
wiki
sparknotes
text
friendship vs love, mistaken identity, cross-dressing, infidelity
The Merry Wives of Windsor
wiki
sparknotes
text
love, marriage, jealousy, revenge, infidelity, class/wealth
Measure for Measure
wiki
sparknotes
text
chastity vs promiscuity, manipulation, sex, hypocrisy
The Comedy of Errors
wiki
sparknotes
text
disguise, appearance vs reality, love, time, coincidence, insanity
Much Ado About Nothing
wiki
sparknotes
text
love, manipulation, deception, infidelity, wordplay
Love's Labour's Lost
wiki
sparknotes
text
academia, chastity, unexpected love, politics
A Midsummer Night's Dream
wiki
sparknotes
text
magic, nature, mischief, lover's quarrels
The Merchant of Venice
wiki
sparknotes
text
religion, politics, homosexuality, fidelity
As You Like It
wiki
sparknotes
text
language, pastoralism, coming-of-age
Taming of the Shrew
wiki
sparknotes
text
temper, favouritism, misogynism
All's Well That Ends Well
wiki
sparknotes
text
marriage, manipulation, cowardice, war
Twelfth Night, or What You Will
wiki
sparknotes
text
cross-dressing, mistaken identity, siblings, unrequited love
The Winter's Tale
wiki
sparknotes
text
infidelity, family, nature
Cymbeline
wiki
sparknotes
text
conspiracy, secrets, disguise, war
TRAGEDIES
Title
Wiki link
SparkNotes link
text
Keywords
Romeo and Juliet
wiki
sparknotes
text
forbidden love, family feud, suicide
Coriolanus
wiki
sparknotes
text
riot, war, politics, revenge
Titus Andronicus
wiki
sparknotes
text
revenge, violence, murder, rape, madness
Timon of Athens
wiki
sparknotes
text
money, society, betrayal
Julius Caesar
wiki
sparknotes
text
betrayal, conspiracy, murder, politics
Macbeth
wiki
sparknotes
text
murder, magic, manipulation, insanity, tyranny
Hamlet
wiki
sparknotes
text
conspiracy, murder, family, revenge, introspection, insanity
Troilus and Cressida
wiki
sparknotes
text
sex, war, thwarted expectations
King Lear
wiki
sparknotes
text
family, betrayal, politics, insanity
Othello
wiki
sparknotes
text
manipulation, race, suspicion, infidelity
Antony and Cleopatra
wiki
sparknotes
text
ambivalence, opposition, politics, war
HISTORIES
Title
Wiki link
SparkNotes link
text
Keywords
King John
wiki
sparknotes
text
alliance, line of succession, self-interest
Richard II
wiki
sparknotes
text
money, law, tyranny
Henry IV, part 1
wiki
sparknotes
text
rebellion, slumming, politics
Henry IV, part 2
wiki
sparknotes
text
politics, coming of age
Henry V
wiki
sparknotes
text
war, assassination, foiled plots
Henry VI, part 1
wiki
sparknotes
text
war, foiled plots, line of succession
Henry VI, part 2
wiki
sparknotes
text
marriage, treason, rebellion
Henry VI, part 3
wiki
sparknotes
text
politics, war, murder, vengeance
Richard III
wiki
sparknotes
text
ambition, jealousy, villainy, regicide
Henry VIII
wiki
sparknotes
text
marriage, religion
OTHER (The Apocrypha, Lost Plays, and Poetry)
Title
Wiki link
SparkNotes link
text
Keywords
The Birth of Merlin
wiki
---
text
love, social class, spirituality/religion, magic
Locrine
wiki
---
text
history, nationality
The London Prodigal
wiki
---
text
money, marriage, disguise
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
wiki
---
text
incest, competition, life and death, fate
The Puritan
wiki
---
text
socioeconomics, deception
The Second Maiden's Tragedy
wiki
---
text
sadism, necrophilia, seduction, manipulation, jealousy
Sir John Oldcastle
wiki
---
text
religion, rebellion, martyrdom
Thomas Lord Cromwell
wiki
---
text
politics, religion, power
The Two Noble Kinsmen
wiki
---
text
friendship, rivalry, love
A Yorkshire Tragedy
wiki
---
text
cruelty, gambling, violence, shame, guilt
Edward III
wiki
---
text
politics, war, seduction
Love's Labour's Won
wiki
---
---
love, marriage
Cardenio
wiki
---
---
love, betrayal
Venus and Adonis
wiki
---
text
love, mythology, aetiology
The Rape of Lucrece
wiki
---
text
rape, suicide, politics
The Passionate Pilgrim
wiki
---
text
love, beauty, time
The Phoenix and the Turtle
wiki
---
text
allegory, idealism, love, death
A Lover's Complaint
wiki
---
text
nature, love, sadness
SONNETS
PROCREATION ARC (themes: beauty, mortality, heritage)
Sonnet 1. From fairest creatures we desire increase
Sonnet 2. When forty winters shall beseige thy brow
Sonnet 3. Look in thy glass, and tell the face thou viewest
Sonnet 4. Unthrifty loveliness, why dost thou spend
Sonnet 5. Those hours, that with gentle work did frame
Sonnet 6. Then let not winter's ragged hand deface
Sonnet 7. Lo! in the orient when the gracious light
Sonnet 8. Music to hear, why hear'st thou music sadly?
Sonnet 9. Is it for fear to wet a widow's eye
Sonnet 10. For shame! deny that thou bear'st love to any
Sonnet 11. As fast as thou shalt wane, so fast thou growest
Sonnet 12. When I do count the clock that tells the time
Sonnet 13. O, that you were yourself! but, love, you are
Sonnet 14. Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck
Sonnet 15. When I consider every thing that grows
Sonnet 16. But wherefore do not you a mightier way
Sonnet 17. Who will believe my verse in time to come
FAIR YOUTH ARC (themes: love, beauty, sex, submission, time, mortality)
Sonnet 18. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Sonnet 19. Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws
Sonnet 20. A woman's face with Nature's own hand painted
Sonnet 21. So is it not with me as with that Muse
Sonnet 22. My glass shall not persuade me I am old
Sonnet 23. As an unperfect actor on the stage
Sonnet 24. Mine eye hath play'd the painter and hath stell'd
Sonnet 25. Let those who are in favour with their stars
Sonnet 26. Lord of my love, to whom in vassalage
Sonnet 27. Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed
Sonnet 28. How can I then return in happy plight
Sonnet 29. When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes
Sonnet 30. When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
Sonnet 31. Thy bosom is endeared with all hearts
Sonnet 32. If thou survive my well-contented day
Sonnet 33. Full many a glorious morning have I seen
Sonnet 34. Why didst thou promise such a beauteous day
Sonnet 35. No more be grieved at that which thou hastdone:
Sonnet 36. Let me confess that we two must be twain
Sonnet 37. As a decrepit father takes delight
Sonnet 38. How can my Muse want subject to invent
Sonnet 39. O, how thy worth with manners may I sing
Sonnet 40. Take all my loves, my love, yea, take them all
Sonnet 41. Those petty wrongs that liberty commits
Sonnet 42. That thou hast her, it is not all my grief
Sonnet 43. When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see
Sonnet 44. If the dull substance of my flesh were thought
Sonnet 45. The other two, slight air and purging fire
Sonnet 46. Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war
Sonnet 47. Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took
Sonnet 48. How careful was I, when I took my way
Sonnet 49. Against that time, if ever that time come
Sonnet 50. How heavy do I journey on the way
Sonnet 51. Thus can my love excuse the slow offence
Sonnet 52. So am I as the rich, whose blessed key
Sonnet 53. What is your substance, whereof are you made
Sonnet 54. O, how much more doth beauty beauteous seem
Sonnet 55. Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
Sonnet 56. Sweet love, renew thy force; be it not said
Sonnet 57. Being your slave, what should I do but tend
Sonnet 58. That god forbid that made me first your slave
Sonnet 59. If there be nothing new, but that which is
Sonnet 60. Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore
Sonnet 61. Is it thy will thy image should keep open
Sonnet 62. Sin of self-love possesseth all mine eye
Sonnet 63. Against my love shall be, as I am now
Sonnet 64. When I have seen by Time's fell hand defaced
Sonnet 65. Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea
Sonnet 66. Tired with all these, for restful death I cry
Sonnet 67. Ah! wherefore with infection should he live
Sonnet 68. Thus is his cheek the map of days outworn
Sonnet 69. Those parts of thee that the world's eye doth view
Sonnet 70. That thou art blamed shall not be thy defect
Sonnet 71. No longer mourn for me when I am dead
Sonnet 72. O, lest the world should task you to recite
Sonnet 73. That time of year thou mayst in me behold
Sonnet 74. But be contented: when that fell arrest
Sonnet 75. So are you to my thoughts as food to life
Sonnet 76. Why is my verse so barren of new pride
Sonnet 77. Thy glass will show thee how thy beauties wear
Sonnet 78. So oft have I invoked thee for my Muse
Sonnet 79. Whilst I alone did call upon thy aid
Sonnet 80. O, how I faint when I of you do write
Sonnet 81. Or I shall live your epitaph to make
Sonnet 82. I grant thou wert not married to my Muse
Sonnet 83. I never saw that you did painting need
Sonnet 84. Who is it that says most? which can say more
Sonnet 85. My tongue-tied Muse in manners holds her still
Sonnet 86. Was it the proud full sail of his great verse
Sonnet 87. Farewell! thou art too dear for my possessing
Sonnet 88. When thou shalt be disposed to set me light
Sonnet 89. Say that thou didst forsake me for some fault
Sonnet 90. Then hate me when thou wilt; if ever, now
Sonnet 91. Some glory in their birth, some in their skill
Sonnet 92. But do thy worst to steal thyself away
Sonnet 93. So shall I live, supposing thou art true
Sonnet 94. They that have power to hurt and will do none
Sonnet 95. How sweet and lovely dost thou make the shame
Sonnet 96. Some say thy fault is youth, some wantonness
Sonnet 97. How like a winter hath my absence been
Sonnet 98. From you have I been absent in the spring
Sonnet 99. The forward violet thus did I chide
Sonnet 100. Where art thou, Muse, that thou forget'st so long
Sonnet 101. O truant Muse, what shall be thy amends
Sonnet 102. My love is strengthen'd, though more weak in seeming
Sonnet 103. Alack, what poverty my Muse brings forth
Sonnet 104. To me, fair friend, you never can be old
Sonnet 105. Let not my love be call'd idolatry
Sonnet 106. When in the chronicle of wasted time
Sonnet 107. Not mine own fears, nor the prophetic soul
Sonnet 108. What's in the brain that ink may character
Sonnet 109. O, never say that I was false of heart
Sonnet 110. Alas, 'tis true I have gone here and there
Sonnet 111. O, for my sake do you with Fortune chide
Sonnet 112. Your love and pity doth the impression fill
Sonnet 113. Since I left you, mine eye is in my mind
Sonnet 114. Or whether doth my mind, being crown'd with you
Sonnet 115. Those lines that I before have writ do lie
Sonnet 116. Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Sonnet 117. Accuse me thus: that I have scanted all
Sonnet 118. Like as, to make our appetites more keen
Sonnet 119. What potions have I drunk of Siren tears
Sonnet 120. That you were once unkind befriends me now
Sonnet 121. 'Tis better to be vile than vile esteem'd
Sonnet 122. Thy gift, thy tables, are within my brain
Sonnet 123. No, Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change
Sonnet 124. If my dear love were but the child of state
Sonnet 125. Were 't aught to me I bore the canopy
Sonnet 126. O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power
DARK LADY ARC (themes: sex, lust, betrayal, infidelity, politics)
Sonnet 127. In the old age black was not counted fair
Sonnet 128. How oft, when thou, my music, music play'st
Sonnet 129. The expense of spirit in a waste of shame
Sonnet 130. My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun
Sonnet 131. Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art
Sonnet 132. Thine eyes I love, and they, as pitying me
Sonnet 133. Beshrew that heart that makes my heart to groan
Sonnet 134. So, now I have confess'd that he is thine
Sonnet 135. Whoever hath her wish, thou hast thy 'Will,'
Sonnet 136. If thy soul cheque thee that I come so near
Sonnet 137. Thou blind fool, Love, what dost thou to mine eyes
Sonnet 138. When my love swears that she is made of truth
Sonnet 139. O, call not me to justify the wrong
Sonnet 140. Be wise as thou art cruel; do not press
Sonnet 141. In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes
Sonnet 142. Love is my sin and thy dear virtue hate
Sonnet 143. Lo! as a careful housewife runs to catch
Sonnet 144. Two loves I have of comfort and despair
Sonnet 145. Those lips that Love's own hand did make
Sonnet 146. Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth
Sonnet 147. My love is as a fever, longing still
Sonnet 148. O me, what eyes hath Love put in my head
Sonnet 149. Canst thou, O cruel! say I love thee not
Sonnet 150. O, from what power hast thou this powerful might
Sonnet 151. Love is too young to know what conscience is
Sonnet 152. In loving thee thou know'st I am forsworn
ALLEGORICAL PAIR
Sonnet 153. Cupid laid by his brand, and fell asleep
Sonnet 154. The little Love-god lying once asleep
Technical Info
- Plays: Shakespeare wrote largely, though not always, in iambic pentameter. Typically, prose (a.k.a. text without rhyme and discernible rhythm) denotes lower-class characters, comedy, and less-important text. Later plays incorporated blank verse. In most cases, even when a scene does not use rhyme and fixed rhythm, the scene will end in a heroic couplet. His plays are also noted for their use of introspective soliloquy, double entendres, and rhetoric.
- Sonnets: Shakespearean sonnet form consists of fourteen lines organised into one cohesive stanza, subdivided into three quatrains and a couplet. Sonnets are in iambic pentameter, with rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. The couplet introduces a sharp twist in imagery or theme, called a volta.
Shakespeare is also thought to have parodied the Petrarchan or Italian sonnet, which is also fourteen lines but is organised into either two quatrains or an octave (8 lines), followed by a sestet (6 lines). The rhyme scheme of the octave is ABBA ABBA, and the sestet may either be Petrarchan (CDC ECE), Italian (CDE CDE), or Sicilian (CDCDCD). A Petrarchan sonnet, rhetorically, is structured to pose a question, present a problem, or posit an idea in the first eight lines, and answer it in the sestet.
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