Sonnet · Life

Sonnet 75: So are you to my thoughts as food to life

by William Shakespeare

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1So are you to my thoughts as food to life,

2Or as sweet-season'd showers are to the ground;

3And for the peace of you I hold such strife

4As 'twixt a miser and his wealth is found.

5Now proud as an enjoyer, and anon

6Doubting the filching age will steal his treasure;

7Now counting best to be with you alone,

8Then better'd that the world may see my pleasure:

9Sometime all full with feasting on your sight,

10And by and by clean starved for a look;

11Possessing or pursuing no delight,

12Save what is had, or must from you be took.

13 Thus do I pine and surfeit day by day,

14 Or gluttoning on all, or all away.

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“Sonnet 75: So are you to my thoughts as food to life” by William Shakespeare — quilloak.com/poems/sonnet-75

Quick facts

Poem: Sonnet 75: So are you to my thoughts as food to life
Poet: William Shakespeare
Length: 14 lines
Form: Sonnet
Themes: Life

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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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 75: So are you to my thoughts as food to life 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 12dc7a4d518df7f9…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Sonnet Life

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