Sonnet · Love

Sonnet 153: Cupid laid by his brand and fell asleep

by William Shakespeare

Reading room

1Cupid laid by his brand and fell asleep:

2A maid of Dian's this advantage found,

3And his love-kindling fire did quickly steep

4In a cold valley-fountain of that ground;

5Which borrow'd from this holy fire of Love,

6A dateless lively heat, still to endure,

7And grew a seeting bath, which yet men prove

8Against strange maladies a sovereign cure.

9But at my mistress' eye Love's brand new-fired,

10The boy for trial needs would touch my breast;

11I, sick withal, the help of bath desired,

12And thither hied, a sad distemper'd guest,

13 But found no cure, the bath for my help lies

14 Where Cupid got new fire; my mistress' eyes.

Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.

Tip: click any line number to copy a ready-made citation for that line.

“Sonnet 153: Cupid laid by his brand and fell asleep” by William Shakespeare — quilloak.com/poems/sonnet-153

Quick facts

Poem: Sonnet 153: Cupid laid by his brand and fell asleep
Poet: William Shakespeare
Length: 14 lines
Form: Sonnet
Themes: Love, Peace

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.

The poem’s silhouette — approximate syllables per line, measured from the text above. Even bars mean a measured line; ragged bars mean the poem sets its own widths.

Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a sonnet, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake

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 153: Cupid laid by his brand and fell asleep 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 4f3143a5bf81766c…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

Jurisdiction-specific, never a worldwide claimRights policy Report a text or rights issue

Sonnet Love Peace

Keep reading

Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

William Shakespeare · 1609

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?Thou art more lovely and more temperate:Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

14 lines · sonnet

Sonnet 116: Let me not to the marriage of true minds

William Shakespeare · 1609

Let me not to the marriage of true mindsAdmit impediments. Love is not loveWhich alters when it alteration finds,

14 lines · sonnet

Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun

William Shakespeare · 1609

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;Coral is far more red than her lips' red;If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;

14 lines · sonnet

More love poems →