Sonnet · Spring
Sonnet 53: What is your substance, whereof are you made
1What is your substance, whereof are you made,
2That millions of strange shadows on you tend?
3Since every one, hath every one, one shade,
4And you but one, can every shadow lend.
5Describe Adonis, and the counterfeit
6Is poorly imitated after you;
7On Helen's cheek all art of beauty set,
8And you in Grecian tires are painted new:
9Speak of the spring, and foison of the year,
10The one doth shadow of your beauty show,
11The other as your bounty doth appear;
12And you in every blessed shape we know.
13 In all external grace you have some part,
14 But you like none, none you, for constant heart.
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“Sonnet 53: What is your substance, whereof are you made” by William Shakespeare — quilloak.com/poems/sonnet-53
Quick facts
- Poem
- Sonnet 53: What is your substance, whereof are you made
- Poet
- William Shakespeare
- Length
- 14 lines
- Form
- Sonnet
- Themes
- Spring, Love, Nature
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
- 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 53: What is your substance, whereof are you made 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 0ad75b809f664310…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.