SONNET #16

by: William Shakespeare

UT wherefore do not you a mightier way

Make war upon this bloody tyrant, Time?

And fortify yourself in your decay

With means more blessèd than my barren rime?

Now stand you on the top of happy hours,

And many maiden gardens, yet unset,

With virtuous wish would bear your living flowers,

Much liker than your painted counterfeit:

So should the lines of life that life repair

Which this time's pencil or my pupil pen,

Neither in inward worth nor outward fair

Can make you live yourself in eyes of men.

To give away yourself keeps yourself still,

And you must live, drawn by your own sweet skill.

• Shakespeare Index - An index of articles on to the Elizabethan dramatist.
• All Sorts of Hamlets - A study of some of the most famous actors to tackle Shakespeare's most famous rôle.
• Biographical aspects of the Sonnets - Examines the worth of Shakespeare's sonnets in piecing together clues as to the nature of his romantic life.
• His Family and Education - Available biographical details of Shakespeare's early life.
• His Marriage and Relations with his Wife - Known facts of Shakespeare's relationship with Anne Hathaway.
• Shakespearean Blank Verse - Management of metre, pause, trisyllabic substitution and the redundant syllable.
• The Shakespeare-Bacon Theory - Analysis of the theory that the plays of William Shakespeare were not written by the man whose biography we are familiar with, but rather under pseudonym by Lord Chancellor Francis Bacon.
• Shakespeare Monologues - A collection of monologues for actors.
• Shakespeare's Coined Words - A study of words coined by Shakespeare which either have been, or deserve to be, adopted into common usage.
• William Shakespeare - A biography.
• William Shakespeare - A biographical account of the poet's life.
• William Shakespeare (1564-1616) - A biography, plus links to purchase all of his works currently in print.
• Purchase books by William Shakespeare