Sonnet · Love
Sonnet 115: Those lines that I before have writ do lie
1Those lines that I before have writ do lie,
2Even those that said I could not love you dearer:
3Yet then my judgment knew no reason why
4My most full flame should afterwards burn clearer.
5But reckoning Time, whose million'd accidents
6Creep in 'twixt vows, and change decrees of kings,
7Tan sacred beauty, blunt the sharp'st intents,
8Divert strong minds to the course of altering things;
9Alas! why fearing of Time's tyranny,
10Might I not then say, 'Now I love you best,'
11When I was certain o'er incertainty,
12Crowning the present, doubting of the rest?
13 Love is a babe, then might I not say so,
14 To give full growth to that which still doth grow?
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“Sonnet 115: Those lines that I before have writ do lie” by William Shakespeare — quilloak.com/poems/sonnet-115
Quick facts
- Poem
- Sonnet 115: Those lines that I before have writ do lie
- Poet
- William Shakespeare
- Length
- 14 lines
- Form
- Sonnet
- Themes
- Love, Sad, Childhood
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 14 lines · one 14-line stanza
- Line length
- Lines run 10-12 syllables (median 10), consistent with pentameter. No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.
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Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- William Shakespeare1564–1616
- Source record
- PoetryDBSonnet 115: Those lines that I before have writ do lie by william-shakespeare, PoetryDB transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- Not recorded in the imported source
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 48dd0ad226a420c6…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.