Suggested Sonnets the English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition INDEX of SUGGESTED SONNETS
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Suggested Sonnets The English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition INDEX OF SUGGESTED SONNETS Below is a list of suggested sonnets for recitation in the ESU National Shakespeare Competition. Sonnet First Line Pg. Sonnet First Line Pg. 2 When forty winters shall besiege thy brow 1 76 Why is my verse so barren of new pride 28 8 Music to hear, why hear’st thou music sadly? 2 78 So oft have I invok’d thee for my muse 29 10 For shame deny that thou bear’st love to any, 3 83 I never saw that you did painting need 30 12 When I do count the clock that tells the time 4 90 Then hate me when thou wilt, if ever, now, 31 14 Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck, 5 91 Some glory in their birth, some in their skill, 32 15 When I consider everything that grows 6 97 How like a winter hath my absence been 33 17 Who will believe my verse in time to come 7 102 My love is strengthened, though more weak… 34 18 Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? 8 104 To me, fair friend, you never can be old, 35 20 A woman’s face with Nature’s own hand painted 9 113 Since I left you, mine eye is in my mind, 36 23 As an unperfect actor on the stage 10 116 Let me not to the marriage of true minds 37 27 Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed, 11 120 That you were once unkind befriends me now, 38 29 When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes 12 121 ’Tis better to be vile than vile esteemed, 39 30 When to the sessions of sweet silent thought 13 124 If my dear love were but the child of state, 40 34 Why didst thou promise such a beauteous day 14 126 O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power 41 40 Take all my loves, my love, yea, take them all. 15 129 Th’ expense of spirit in a waste of shame 42 43 When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see, 16 130 My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun; 43 53 What is your substance, whereof are you made, 17 131 Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art, 44 54 O, how much more doth beauty beauteous seem 18 138 When my love swears she is made of truth 45 55 Not marble nor the gilded [monuments] 19 140 Be wise as thou art cruel; do not press 46 60 Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore 20 141 In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes, 47 61 Is it thy will thy image should keep open 21 143 Lo, as a careful housewife runs to catch 48 62 Sin of self-love possesseth all mine eye 22 144 Two loves I have, of comfort and despair, 49 63 Against my love shall be, as I am now, 23 145 Those lips that Love’s own hand did make 50 65 Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea 24 147 My love is as a fever, longing still 51 66 Tired with all these, for restful death I cry: 25 148 O me, what eyes hath love put in my head, 52 69 Those parts of thee that the world’s eye doth view 26 149 Canst thou, O cruel, say I love thee not 53 71 No longer mourn for me when I am dead 27 154 The little love-god, lying once asleep, 54 The English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition SUGGESTED SONNETS PACKET Sonnet 2 When forty winters shall beseige thy brow And dig deep trenches in thy beauty's field, Thy youth's proud livery, so gazed on now, Will be a tattered weed of small worth held. Then being asked where all thy beauty lies, Where all the treasure of thy lusty days, To say within thine own deep-sunken eyes Were an all-eating shame and thriftless praise. How much more praise deserved thy beauty's use, If thou couldst answer “This fair child of mine Shall sum my count and make my old excuse,” Proving his beauty by succession thine. This were to be new made when thou art old And see thy blood warm when thou feel'st it cold. The English-Speaking Union Education. Scholarship. Understanding. 1 www.esuus.org The English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition SUGGESTED SONNETS PACKET Sonnet 8 Music to hear, why hear'st thou music sadly? Sweets with sweets war not, joy delights in joy. Why lov’st thou that which thou receiv’st not gladly, Or else receiv’st with pleasure thine annoy? If the true concord of well-tuned sounds, By unions married, do offend thine ear, They do but sweetly chide thee, who confounds In singleness the parts that thou shouldst bear. Mark how one string, sweet husband to another, Strikes each in each by mutual ordering, Resembling sire and child and happy mother Who all in one, one pleasing note do sing; Whose speechless song, being many, seeming one, Sings this to thee: “Thou single wilt prove none.” The English-Speaking Union Education. Scholarship. Understanding. 2 www.esuus.org The English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition SUGGESTED SONNETS PACKET Sonnet 10 For shame deny that thou bear'st love to any, Who for thyself art so unprovident. Grant, if thou wilt, thou art beloved of many, But that thou none lov’st is most evident. For thou art so possessed with murderous hate That ’gainst thyself thou stick’st not to conspire, Seeking that beauteous roof to ruinate Which to repair should be thy chief desire. O, change thy thought, that I may change my mind. Shall hate be fairer lodged than gentle love? Be as thy presence is, gracious and kind, Or to thyself at least kind-hearted prove. Make thee another self for love of me, That beauty still may live in thine or thee. The English-Speaking Union Education. Scholarship. Understanding. 3 www.esuus.org The English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition SUGGESTED SONNETS PACKET Sonnet 12 When I do count the clock that tells the time And see the brave day sunk in hideous night, When I behold the violet past prime, And sable curls [all] silver'd o’er with white; When lofty trees I see barren of leaves, Which erst from heat did canopy the herd, And summer's green all girded up in sheaves Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard; Then of thy beauty do I question make That thou among the wastes of time must go, Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake And die as fast as they see others grow; And nothing ’gainst Time's scythe can make defense Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence. The English-Speaking Union Education. Scholarship. Understanding. 4 www.esuus.org The English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition SUGGESTED SONNETS PACKET Sonnet 14 Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck, And yet methinks I have astronomy— But not to tell of good or evil luck, Of plagues, of dearths, or seasons’ quality; Nor can I fortune to brief minutes tell, Pointing to each his thunder, rain and wind, Or say with princes if it shall go well By oft predict that I in heaven find. But from thine eyes my knowledge I derive, And, constant stars, in them I read such art As truth and beauty shall together thrive, If from thyself to store thou wouldst convert; Or else of thee this I prognosticate: Thy end is truth's and beauty's doom and date. The English-Speaking Union Education. Scholarship. Understanding. 5 www.esuus.org The English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition SUGGESTED SONNETS PACKET Sonnet 15 When I consider everything that grows Holds in perfection but a little moment, That this huge stage presenteth nought but shows Whereon the stars in secret influence comment; When I perceive that men as plants increase, Cheered and checked even by the selfsame sky, Vaunt in their youthful sap, at height decrease, And wear their brave state out of memory; Then the conceit of this inconstant stay Sets you most rich in youth before my sight, Where wasteful Time debateth with Decay, To change your day of youth to sullied night; And, all in war with Time for love of you, As he takes from you, I engraft you new. The English-Speaking Union Education. Scholarship. Understanding. 6 www.esuus.org The English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition SUGGESTED SONNETS PACKET Sonnet 17 Who will believe my verse in time to come If it were filled with your most high deserts? Though yet, heaven knows, it is but as a tomb Which hides your life and shows not half your parts. If I could write the beauty of your eyes And in fresh numbers number all your graces, The age to come would say “This poet lies; Such heavenly touches ne'er touched earthly faces.” So should my papers yellowed with their age Be scorned like old men of less truth than tongue, And your true rights be termed a poet's rage And stretched meter of an antique song. But were some child of yours alive that time, You should live twice—in it and in my rhyme. The English-Speaking Union Education. Scholarship. Understanding. 7 www.esuus.org The English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition SUGGESTED SONNETS PACKET Sonnet 18 Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate.