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Shakespeare's Sonnets

by William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

  • Free to read
  • 1 hour to read
  • 154 chapters
  • Reading level: 7th grade

"Shakespeare's Sonnets" by William Shakespeare is a collection of poems published in 1609. The work includes 154 sonnets, with sonnets 127-152 addressing a mysterious figure known as the Dark Lady, described as having black wiry hair and dark skin. These poems contrast sharply with earlier sonnets through their overtly sexual nature. The Dark Lady's true identity remains one of literature's enduring mysteries, with scholars debating whether she was a real person or purely Shakespeare's artistic invention.

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  • English poetry
  • Sonnets, English

Read the opening

Chapter I

From fairest creatures we desire increase,
That thereby beauty’s rose might never die,
But as the riper should by time decease,
His tender heir might bear his memory:
But thou, contracted to thine own bright eyes,
Feed’st thy light’s flame with self-substantial fuel,
Making a 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 tender churl mak’st waste in niggarding:
Pity the world, or else this glutton be,
To eat the world’s due, by the grave and thee.

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Contents

Show all 154 chapters
  1. Chapter I
  2. Chapter II
  3. Chapter III
  4. Chapter IV
  5. Chapter V
  6. Chapter VI
  7. Chapter VII
  8. Chapter VIII
  9. Chapter IX
  10. Chapter X
  11. Chapter XI
  12. Chapter XII
  13. Chapter XIII
  14. Chapter XIV
  15. Chapter XV
  16. Chapter XVI
  17. Chapter XVII
  18. Chapter XVIII
  19. Chapter XIX
  20. Chapter XX
  21. Chapter XXI
  22. Chapter XXII
  23. Chapter XXIII
  24. Chapter XXIV
  25. Chapter XXV
  26. Chapter XXVI
  27. Chapter XXVII
  28. Chapter XXVIII
  29. Chapter XXIX
  30. Chapter XXX
  31. Chapter XXXI
  32. Chapter XXXII
  33. Chapter XXXIII
  34. Chapter XXXIV
  35. Chapter XXXV
  36. Chapter XXXVI
  37. Chapter XXXVII
  38. Chapter XXXVIII
  39. Chapter XXXIX
  40. Chapter XL
  41. Chapter XLI
  42. Chapter XLII
  43. Chapter XLIII
  44. Chapter XLIV
  45. Chapter XLV
  46. Chapter XLVI
  47. Chapter XLVII
  48. Chapter XLVIII
  49. Chapter XLIX
  50. Chapter L
  51. Chapter LI
  52. Chapter LII
  53. Chapter LIII
  54. Chapter LIV
  55. Chapter LV
  56. Chapter LVI
  57. Chapter LVII
  58. Chapter LVIII
  59. Chapter LIX
  60. Chapter LX
  61. Chapter LXI
  62. Chapter LXII
  63. Chapter LXIII
  64. Chapter LXIV
  65. Chapter LXV
  66. Chapter LXVI
  67. Chapter LXVII
  68. Chapter LXVIII
  69. Chapter LXIX
  70. Chapter LXX
  71. Chapter LXXI
  72. Chapter LXXII
  73. Chapter LXXIII
  74. Chapter LXXIV
  75. Chapter LXXV
  76. Chapter LXXVI
  77. Chapter LXXVII
  78. Chapter LXXVIII
  79. Chapter LXXIX
  80. Chapter LXXX
  81. Chapter LXXXI
  82. Chapter LXXXII
  83. Chapter LXXXIII
  84. Chapter LXXXIV
  85. Chapter LXXXV
  86. Chapter LXXXVI
  87. Chapter LXXXVII
  88. Chapter LXXXVIII
  89. Chapter LXXXIX
  90. Chapter XC
  91. Chapter XCI
  92. Chapter XCII
  93. Chapter XCIII
  94. Chapter XCIV
  95. Chapter XCV
  96. Chapter XCVI
  97. Chapter XCVII
  98. Chapter XCVIII
  99. Chapter XCIX
  100. Chapter C
  101. Chapter CI
  102. Chapter CII
  103. Chapter CIII
  104. Chapter CIV
  105. Chapter CV
  106. Chapter CVI
  107. Chapter CVII
  108. Chapter CVIII
  109. Chapter CIX
  110. Chapter CX
  111. Chapter CXI
  112. Chapter CXII
  113. Chapter CXIII
  114. Chapter CXIV
  115. Chapter CXV
  116. Chapter CXVI
  117. Chapter CXVII
  118. Chapter CXVIII
  119. Chapter CXIX
  120. Chapter CXX
  121. Chapter CXXI
  122. Chapter CXXII
  123. Chapter CXXIII
  124. Chapter CXXIV
  125. Chapter CXXV
  126. Chapter CXXVI
  127. Chapter CXXVII
  128. Chapter CXXVIII
  129. Chapter CXXIX
  130. Chapter CXXX
  131. Chapter CXXXI
  132. Chapter CXXXII
  133. Chapter CXXXIII
  134. Chapter CXXXIV
  135. Chapter CXXXV
  136. Chapter CXXXVI
  137. Chapter CXXXVII
  138. Chapter CXXXVIII
  139. Chapter CXXXIX
  140. Chapter CXL
  141. Chapter CXLI
  142. Chapter CXLII
  143. Chapter CXLIII
  144. Chapter CXLIV
  145. Chapter CXLV
  146. Chapter CXLVI
  147. Chapter CXLVII
  148. Chapter CXLVIII
  149. Chapter CXLIX
  150. Chapter CL
  151. Chapter CLI
  152. Chapter CLII
  153. Chapter CLIII
  154. Chapter CLIV

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About this edition

This free edition of Shakespeare's Sonnets by William Shakespeare comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #1041, released 1997-09-01. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Poetry, Classics of Literature, British Literature.

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

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