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Sonnet · Love

Sonnet 62: Sin of self-love possesseth all mine eye

by William Shakespeare

Sin of self-love possesseth all mine eye

And all my soul, and all my every part;

And for this sin there is no remedy,

It is so grounded inward in my heart.

Methinks no face so gracious is as mine,

No shape so true, no truth of such account;

And for myself mine own worth do define,

As I all other in all worths surmount.

But when my glass shows me myself indeed

Beated and chopp'd with tanned antiquity,

Mine own self-love quite contrary I read;

Self so self-loving were iniquity.

'Tis thee, — myself, — that for myself I praise,

Painting my age with beauty of thy days.

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Quick facts

Poem
Sonnet 62: Sin of self-love possesseth all mine eye
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
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 62: Sin of self-love possesseth all mine eye 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 8e0c479d6246ce39
Editorial handling
Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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