LV

Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone, besmear’d with sluttish time.
When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,
Nor Mars his sword, nor war’s quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.
‘Gainst death, and all oblivious enmity
Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room
Even in the eyes of all posterity
That wear this world out to the ending doom.
So, till the judgment that yourself arise,
You live in this, and dwell in lovers’ eyes. 3 years ago

XXIX

When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself, and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man’s art, and that man’s scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts my self almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate;
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings. 3 years ago

XVIII

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. 3 years ago

XIV

Not from the stars do I my judgement 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. 3 years ago

got #14 about 95% down. this one has a tricky line in the middle of the sonnet that trips me up. but i’ll keep working on this one and start #18 which most people know by the “shall i compare thee to a summer day..” line. 7 years ago

reviewed sonnets #29 and 55
now going to work on #14 and #18.

Also have memorized:
Blight
Midnight Oil
The Philosopher
Thursday
by E St. Vincent Millay 7 years ago

I downloaded all the sonnets to my laptop so I can take them with me and work on this during down/boring moments. I’ll have to set a goal like one a month or something like that. I also thought that I can work on my penmanship and try writing lefthanded and work on the memorization thing all at the same time by copying the sonnets into my paper travel journal! 7 years ago

I need to copy the sonnets and some other shorts into my journal or something before I take off so I can continue to work on this, it’ll be good for downtime/boring days on the road and mental agility. 7 years ago

I started this this year by memorizing 2 sonnets that I really like. I started with #29 and #55. I also memorized 3 pieces by Edna St. Vincent Millay. 7 years ago