Top Sonnet Poems

Sonnet Poetry

by William Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate...

Perhaps the most famous of Shakespeare's sonnets, it immortalizes the beloved's beauty, asserting that the poem itself grants eternal life.

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach...

A heartfelt declaration of love, this sonnet enumerates the speaker's profound affection, transcending time and space.

by John Donne

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so...

Donne personifies Death, challenging its perceived power and asserting the eternal nature of the soul.

by Emma Lazarus

Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free...

This sonnet, inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, reimagines the monument as a welcoming mother to immigrants.

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!

A meditation on the impermanence of power, this sonnet describes the ruins of a once-great king's statue in the desert.