Shakespearean Sonnets

Being a fan of literature, I just had to share one of my favorite Shakespearean sonnets. :)

Sonnet 6

"Then let not winter's ragged hand deface in thee thy summer ere thou be distilled. Make sweet some vial; treasure thou some place with beauty's treasure ere it be self-killed. That use is not forbidden usury which happies those that pay the willing loan; that's for thyself to breed another thee, or ten times happier be it ten for one. Ten times thyself were happier than thou art, if ten of thine ten times refigured thee: then what could death do if thou shouldst depart, leaving thee living in posterity? Be not self-willed, for thou art much too fair, to be death's conquest and make worms thine heir."

Homeric Hymn

Homeric Hymn to Athena:

"Of Pallas Athene, guardian of the city, I begin to sing. Dread is she, and with Ares she loves the deeds of war, the sack of cities and the shouting and the battle. It is she who saves the people as they go out to war and come back. Hail, goddess, and give us good fortune with happiness!" 

To A Friend Whose Work Has Come To Triumph

To A Friend Whose Work Has Come To Triumph

By Anne Sexton


Consider Icarus, pasting those sticky wings on, testing that strange little tug at his shoulder blade, and think of that first flawless moment over the lawn of the labyrinth. Think of the difference it made! There below are the trees, as awkward as camels; and here are the shocked starlings pumping past and think of innocent Icarus who is doing quite well: larger than a sail, over the fog and the blast of the plushy ocean, he goes. Admire his wings! Feel the fire at his neck and see how casually he glances up and is caught, wondrously tunneling into that hot eye. Who cares that he fell back to the sea? See him acclaiming the sun and come plunging down while his sensible daddy goes straight into town.