Sonnet · Love
Sonnet 45: The other two, slight air, and purging fire
1The other two, slight air, and purging fire
2Are both with thee, wherever I abide;
3The first my thought, the other my desire,
4These present-absent with swift motion slide.
5For when these quicker elements are gone
6In tender embassy of love to thee,
7My life, being made of four, with two alone
8Sinks down to death, oppress'd with melancholy;
9Until life's composition be recur'd
10By those swift messengers return'd from thee,
11Who even but now come back again, assur'd,
12Of thy fair health, recounting it to me:
13 This told, I joy; but then no longer glad,
14 I send them back again, and straight grow sad.
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“Sonnet 45: The other two, slight air, and purging fire” by William Shakespeare — quilloak.com/poems/sonnet-45
Quick facts
- Poem
- Sonnet 45: The other two, slight air, and purging fire
- Poet
- William Shakespeare
- Length
- 14 lines
- Form
- Sonnet
- Themes
- Love, 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
- 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 45: The other two, slight air, and purging fire 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 34aead634ee67ea7…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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