Sonnet 138
The speaker who reflects on the lies and truths in his romantic relationship.
Sonnet 144
The speaker of the sonnet, reflecting on his two loves.
VIII
The poet who loves Spenser's poetry and addresses the friend.
XIV
The speaker who suffers from unrequited love and exile.
Sonnets
Referred to as 'our ever-living poet' in the dedication.
Sonnet II
The speaker who delivers the warning about aging and the need for legacy.
Sonnet VIII
The poet who delivers the argument for marriage.
IX
The speaker who argues against self-consuming single life.
Sonnet X
The speaker who pleads with the young man to change his ways.
Sonnet XI
The speaker who counsels the young man to marry and have children.
XIV
The poet-speaker who rejects conventional astrology and reads his prophecies in the beloved's eyes.
Sonnet XV
The poet who vows to engraft the beloved anew through his art.
Sonnet XVI
The poet speaks in first person, contrasting his 'barren rhyme' with the youth's potential to create 'living flowers'.
XVII
The poet who worries his verse will not be believed by future ages.
Sonnet XIX
The poet who defiantly promises immortality through his verse.
Sonnet 20
The poet speaker addresses the youth, expressing his love and the paradox of the beloved's androgynous beauty.
Sonnet 21
The poet-speaker asserts his own truthful style of writing about love.
Sonnet XXII
The speaker who reflects on aging and the exchange of hearts with the beloved.
Sonnet XXIII
The speaker of the sonnet, expressing his inability to articulate love verbally.
Sonnet XXIV
The speaker who uses the metaphor of the eye as painter to describe how the beloved's image is etched in his heart.
XXV
The speaker reflects on the instability of public honor versus the constancy of love.
Sonnet XXVI
The poet speaker who sends this written embassage in humble duty.
Sonnet XXVII
The speaker of the sonnet, expressing his restless devotion and mental pilgrimage toward the beloved.
Sonnet XXVIII
The speaker of the sonnet, expressing personal anguish over separation from the beloved.
Sonnet XXIX
The speaker of the sonnet, expressing personal despair and redemption through love.
Sonnet 30
The speaker who summons remembrance of things past and laments lost friends.
XXXI
The speaker who mourns and then finds his lost loves resurrected in the beloved.
XXXII
The speaker who contemplates his own mortality and the legacy of his verse.
Sonnet XXXIII
The speaker who observes the fleeting beauty of the morning and the friend's radiance.
XXXIV
The speaker who expresses betrayal and forgiveness.
Sonnet XXXV
The speaker who wrestles with excusing the beloved's fault and admits his own corrupting role.
Sonnet XXXVI
The speaker who confesses the necessity of separation and bears guilt alone.
XXXVII
The speaker who compares himself to a decrepit father and takes comfort in the beloved's virtues.
Sonnet XXXVIII
The poet speaks in first person, acknowledging his own creative debt to the beloved.
Sonnet XXXIX
The poet speaker who contemplates the nature of praise and separation.
XL
The speaker of the sonnet, addressing his beloved with a mixture of generosity and reproach.
XLII
The speaker of the sonnet, expressing personal grief and rationalization.
Sonnet XLIII
The speaker who contrasts waking blindness with dream vision.
XLIV
The speaker of the sonnet, expressing longing and frustration over physical separation.
XLV
The speaker who sends his thoughts and desires to the beloved.
XLVI
The speaker of the sonnet, personifying his eye and heart in a legal dispute over the beloved.
XLVII
The speaker of the sonnet, describing the pact between his eye and heart.
XLVIII
The speaker of the sonnet, expressing anxiety over the safety of his beloved.
Sonnet XLIX
The speaker who reflects on his own defects and anticipates rejection.
Sonnet 50
The speaker of the sonnet, journeying away from his friend.
Sonnet LI
The speaker who excuses his horse's slowness and expresses his own desire to return to the beloved.
Sonnet LII
The speaker of the sonnet, reflecting on the value of rarity and anticipation in love.
Sonnet LIV
The poet who promises to preserve the youth's truth through his verse.
Sonnet LV
The poet who promises immortality through his verse.
Sonnet LVII
The speaker of the sonnet, expressing his devotion and servitude.
Sonnet LVIII
The speaker who declares himself a vassal bound to the beloved's pleasure.
Sonnet LIX
The speaker of the sonnet, musing on originality and the passage of time.
LXI
The speaker of the sonnet, lying awake and reflecting on his love.
Sonnet LXII
The speaker who examines his own self-love and aging.
Sonnet LXV
The poet who hopes to preserve beauty through his verse.
Sonnet LXVI
The speaker of the sonnet, expressing profound disillusionment with the world.
Sonnet LXIX
The speaker who reflects on the disparity between the youth's appearance and his deeds.
LXXI
The speaker who addresses the beloved about his own death and legacy.
LXXII
The speaker who expresses shame about his own worth and fears posthumous false praise.
LXXIV
The poet-speaker reflects on his own mortality and the enduring power of his verse.
LXXV
The speaker of the sonnet, expressing obsessive dependence on the beloved.
Sonnet LXXVI
The speaker of the sonnet, reflecting on his own poetic style and devotion.
LXXVIII
The poet who speaks of invoking his Muse and contrasts his own art with that of other writers.
Sonnet LXXIX
The poet who calls upon his muse and acknowledges his declining verse.
Sonnet 80
The poet who feels faint and inferior when writing of the beloved.
Sonnet 81
The poet who speaks of his own mortality and his power to immortalize the beloved through verse.
Sonnet LXXXII
The speaker of the sonnet, who defends his plain style against the ornate flattery of rival poets.
Sonnet LXXXIII
The poet-speaker who defends his silence and critiques other poets' attempts to praise the beloved.
Sonnet LXXXV
The poet reflects on his own inability to produce eloquent praise, valuing his inner thoughts over outward words.
Sonnet LXXXVI
The speaker, reflecting on his creative paralysis and rivalry.
LXXXVII
The speaker who laments the loss of the beloved and reflects on his own unworthiness.
Sonnet LXXXVIII
The poet-speaker who vows to fight against himself to prove the beloved virtuous.
Sonnet LXXXIX
The speaker who declares self-disgrace and estrangement to please the beloved.
Sonnet XCI
The speaker who reflects on the superiority of love over worldly pride.
Sonnet XCII
The speaker who declares his life dependent on the beloved's love and contemplates the security and risk of this bond.
Sonnet XCVII
The speaker of the sonnet, expressing deep melancholy and longing during absence from the beloved.
Sonnet XCVIII
The poet-speaker who laments being separated from the beloved
Sonnet CI
The poet speaks in first person, instructing the Muse to immortalize the beloved.
Sonnet CII
The speaker of the sonnet, reflecting on the nature of his love and his poetic silence.
Sonnet CIV: The Illusion of Unchanging Beauty
The poet-speaker reflects on the passage of time and the deceptive constancy of the friend's beauty.
Sonnet CV
The poet-speaker defends his constancy in love and verse.
CVI
The poet who marvels at the beloved's beauty and laments his own inability to praise it fully.
Sonnet CVIII
The poet who expresses his unchanging love and devotion through verse.
Sonnet CIX
The speaker who protests his constancy and devotion.
Sonnet CX
The speaker of the sonnet, confessing his own faults and reaffirming his devotion.
Sonnet CXI
The speaker who reflects on the stain of his public profession and seeks renewal through the friend's pity.
Sonnet CXII
The speaker who dismisses public opinion and relies solely on the beloved's approval.
CXIII
The speaker of the sonnet, reflecting on the power of inner vision over physical sight.
Sonnet CXIV
The speaker of the sonnet, reflecting on the nature of his perception and love.
Sonnet CXVII
The speaker who addresses the beloved, defending his actions.
Sonnet CXVIII
The speaker of the sonnet, reflecting on his own misguided strategy in love.
Sonnet CXIX
The speaker of the sonnet, reflecting on his own past mistakes and emotional turmoil.
Sonnet CXX
The speaker of the sonnet, reflecting on past unkindness and seeking mutual forgiveness.
CXXI
The speaker of the sonnet, asserting his own moral autonomy against false judgment.
Sonnet CXXII
The speaker who asserts that the beloved's gift is etched in his memory.
Sonnet CXXVII
The speaker, defending the beauty of his dark mistress against conventional standards.
CXXVIII
The speaker who envies the jacks and longs for the beloved's kiss.
Sonnet CXXX
The speaker of the sonnet, offering a realistic portrayal of his mistress.
CXXXI
The speaker, expressing conflicted devotion to the Dark Lady.
Sonnet CXXXIII
The speaker who groans over the wound given to his friend and himself.
CXXXIV
The speaker who confesses his own mortgaged will and loss of the friend.
CXXXV
The speaker, punning on his own name 'Will' as he addresses the Dark Lady.
CXXXVI
The speaker who identifies himself by the name 'Will' and argues for acceptance.
CXXXVIII
The speaker who reflects on mutual deception in love.
Sonnet CXXXIX
The speaker of the sonnet, addressing his beloved.
CXL
The speaker who pleads for mercy and warns of the consequences of disdain.
Sonnet CXLI
The speaker of the sonnet, confessing his irrational love.
CXLII
The speaker of the sonnet, confessing his sinful love and accusing the beloved of hypocrisy.
Sonnet 143
The speaker who compares himself to a neglected child.
CXLIV
The speaker who reflects on his two loves.
Sonnet CXLVII
The speaker of the sonnet, expressing his feverish and irrational love.
Sonnet CXLIX
The speaker who defends his love against accusations of not loving.
Sonnet 151
The speaker who addresses his beloved and reflects on love and conscience
Sonnet CLII
The speaker who confesses his own perjury and accuses the beloved of breaking vows.
Endnotes
Mentioned as the author whose original intent for Sonnet 146 is debated due to a printer's error.
