Sonnet · Nature

Sonnet 54: O! how much more doth beauty beauteous seem

by William Shakespeare

Reading room

1O! how much more doth beauty beauteous seem

2By that sweet ornament which truth doth give.

3The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem

4For that sweet odour, which doth in it live.

5The canker blooms have full as deep a dye

6As the perfumed tincture of the roses.

7Hang on such thorns, and play as wantonly

8When summer's breath their masked buds discloses:

9But, for their virtue only is their show,

10They live unwoo'd, and unrespected fade;

11Die to themselves. Sweet roses do not so;

12Of their sweet deaths, are sweetest odours made:

13 And so of you, beauteous and lovely youth,

14 When that shall vade, by verse distills your truth.

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 54: O! how much more doth beauty beauteous seem” by William Shakespeare — quilloak.com/poems/sonnet-54

Quick facts

Poem: Sonnet 54: O! how much more doth beauty beauteous seem
Poet: William Shakespeare
Length: 14 lines
Form: Sonnet
Themes: Nature, Summer, 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: Mostly 10-syllable lines (pentameter length).

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 54: O! how much more doth beauty beauteous seem 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 52c94d46c945fd13…
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 Nature Summer Death & Loss

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 nature poems →