Sonnet · Love
Sonnet 91: Some glory in their birth, some in their skill
1Some glory in their birth, some in their skill,
2Some in their wealth, some in their body's force,
3Some in their garments though new-fangled ill;
4Some in their hawks and hounds, some in their horse;
5And every humour hath his adjunct pleasure,
6Wherein it finds a joy above the rest:
7But these particulars are not my measure,
8All these I better in one general best.
9Thy love is better than high birth to me,
10Richer than wealth, prouder than garments' costs,
11Of more delight than hawks and horses be;
12And having thee, of all men's pride I boast:
13 Wretched in this alone, that thou mayst take
14 All this away, and me most wretchcd make.
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“Sonnet 91: Some glory in their birth, some in their skill” by William Shakespeare — quilloak.com/poems/sonnet-91
Quick facts
- Poem
- Sonnet 91: Some glory in their birth, some in their skill
- Poet
- William Shakespeare
- Length
- 14 lines
- Form
- Sonnet
- Themes
- Love
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 9-11 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 91: Some glory in their birth, some in their skill 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 1d75574424440d41…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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