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Shakespeare Poems Part IV

Love is a Smoke Made with the Fume of Sighs (From Romeo and Juliet)

Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs.
Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers’ eyes.
Being vexed, a sea nourished with lovers’ tears.
What is it else? a madness most discreet,
A choking gall and a preserving sweet.

One of the greatest love stories ever written, Romeo and Juliet tells the tragic story of two ‘star-cross’d lovers’ from two opposing families from Verona – Romeo Montagu and Juliet Capulet. Their families disapproving of their relationship, they must marry in secret…

No Sooner Met But They Looked (From As You Like It)

No sooner met but they looked;
No sooner looked but they loved;
No sooner loved but they sighed;
No sooner signed but they asked one another the reason;
No sooner knew the reason but they sought the remedy;
And in these degrees have they made a pair of stairs to marriage…

Set in France, As You Like It, it is the story of Orlando, a young gentleman of the court who falls in love at first sight with Rosalind. But then she must flee the court after being persecuted by Orlando’s older brother, Oliver…Orlando, meanwhile, posts romantic poems on the trees, hoping that Rosalind will see them…

Doubt Thou the Stars are Fire (From Hamlet)

Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love.

Hamlet recounts the story of Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark and is arguably the greatest tragedy ever written in the English language. Hamlet is haunted by the ghost of his dead father, who reveals that he was murdered, and so unfolds a struggle for the throne of Denmark…

Fair is My Love (From the poem, The Passionate Pilgrim)

Fair is my love, but not so fair as fickle;
Mild as a dove, but neither true nor trusty;
Brighter than glass, and yet, as glass is, brittle;
Softer than wax, and yet, as iron, rusty:
A lily pale, with damask dye to grace her,
None fairer, nor none falser to deface her.
Her lips to mine how often hath she join’d,
Between each kiss her oaths of true love swearing!
How many tales to please me hath she coin’d,
Dreading my love, the loss thereof still fearing!
Yet in the midst of all her pure protestings,
Her faith, her oaths, her tears, and all were jestings.
She burn’d with love, as straw with fire flameth;
She burn’d out love, as soon as straw outburneth;
She fram’d the love, and yet she foil’d the framing;
She bade love last, and yet she fell a-turning.
Was this a lover, or a lecher whether?
Bad in the best, though excellent in neither.

The Passionate Pilgrim is a collection of verses, published in 1599. In this extract, the poet explores the grandiosity and scope of his love for the object of his affection.