Sonnet · Dreams & Sleep
Sonnet 43: When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see
1When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see,
2For all the day they view things unrespected;
3But when I sleep, in dreams they look on thee,
4And darkly bright, are bright in dark directed.
5Then thou, whose shadow shadows doth make bright,
6How would thy shadow's form form happy show
7To the clear day with thy much clearer light,
8When to unseeing eyes thy shade shines so!
9How would, I say, mine eyes be blessed made
10By looking on thee in the living day,
11When in dead night thy fair imperfect shade
12Through heavy sleep on sightless eyes doth stay!
13 All days are nights to see till I see thee,
14 And nights bright days when dreams do show thee me.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“Sonnet 43: When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see” by William Shakespeare — quilloak.com/poems/sonnet-43
Quick facts
- Poem
- Sonnet 43: When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see
- Poet
- William Shakespeare
- Length
- 14 lines
- Form
- Sonnet
- Themes
- Dreams & Sleep, Death & Loss
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
- End rhyme
- ABACDEDEFGFGAA.
- Line length
- Mostly 10-syllable lines (pentameter length).
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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 43: When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see 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 ae1eda26a074482a…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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