Sonnet · Childhood
Sonnet 96: Some say thy fault is youth, some wantonness
1Some say thy fault is youth, some wantonness;
2Some say thy grace is youth and gentle sport;
3Both grace and faults are lov'd of more and less:
4Thou mak'st faults graces that to thee resort.
5As on the finger of a throned queen
6The basest jewel will be well esteem'd,
7So are those errors that in thee are seen
8To truths translated, and for true things deem'd.
9How many lambs might the stern wolf betray,
10If like a lamb he could his looks translate!
11How many gazers mightst thou lead away,
12if thou wouldst use the strength of all thy state!
13 But do not so; I love thee in such sort,
14 As, thou being mine, mine is thy good report.
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“Sonnet 96: Some say thy fault is youth, some wantonness” by William Shakespeare — quilloak.com/poems/sonnet-96
Quick facts
- Poem
- Sonnet 96: Some say thy fault is youth, some wantonness
- Poet
- William Shakespeare
- Length
- 14 lines
- Form
- Sonnet
- Themes
- Childhood, 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
- 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 96: Some say thy fault is youth, some wantonness 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 d4ef5cd7b8f88ad1…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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