Sonnet · Love
Sonnet 138: When my love swears that she is made of truth
by William Shakespeare · 1609
When my love swears that she is made of truth,
I do believe her though I know she lies,
That she might think me some untutor'd youth,
Unlearned in the world's false subtleties.
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,
Although she knows my days are past the best,
Simply I credit her false-speaking tongue:
On both sides thus is simple truth suppressed:
But wherefore says she not she is unjust?
And wherefore say not I that I am old?
O! love's best habit is in seeming trust,
And age in love, loves not to have years told:
Therefore I lie with her, and she with me,
And in our faults by lies we flatter'd be.
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“Sonnet 138: When my love swears that she is made of truth” by William Shakespeare — quilloak.com/poems/sonnet-138
Quick facts
- Poem
- Sonnet 138: When my love swears that she is made of truth
- Poet
- William Shakespeare
- Published
- 1609
- Length
- 14 lines
- Form
- Sonnet
- Themes
- Love, Funny
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 10-11 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 138: When my love swears that she is made of truth by william-shakespeare, PoetryDB transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- 1609
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 040de14d078f1245…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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