《莎士比亚十四行诗》成书大约于1590年至1598年之间，其诗作的结构技巧和语言技巧都很高，几乎每首诗都有独立的审美价值。诗集分为两部分，第一部分为前126首，献给一个年轻的贵族(Fair Lord)，诗人的诗热烈地歌颂了这位朋友的美貌以及他们的友情;第二部分为第127首至最后，献给一位"黑女士"(Dark Lady)，描写爱情。该诗集于1609年在伦敦首次印刷出版。评论家赞美《十四行诗》是爱、性欲、生殖、死亡和时间的本性的深刻思索。
16
But wherefore do not you a mightier way
Make war upon this bloody tyrant Time?
And fortify your self in your decay
With means more blessed than my barren rhyme?
Now stand you on the top of happy hours,
And many maiden gardens yet unset,
With virtuous wish would bear you 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 your self in eyes of men.
To give away your self, keeps your self still,
And you must live drawn by your own sweet skill.
一六
但是为什么不用更凶的法子
去抵抗这血淋淋的魔王--时光？
不用比我的枯笔吉利的武器，
去防御你的衰朽，把自己加强？
你现在站在黄金时辰的绝顶，
许多少女的花园，还未经播种，
贞洁地切盼你那绚烂的群英，
比你的画像更酷肖你的真容：
只有生命的线能把生命重描；
时光的画笔，或者我这枝弱管，
无论内心的美或外貌的姣好，
都不能使你在人们眼前活现。
献出你自己依然保有你自己，
而你得活着，靠你自己的妙笔。
17
Who will believe my verse in time to come
If it were filled with your most high deserts?
Though yet heaven knows it is but as a tomb
Which hides your life, and shows not half your parts:
If I could write the beauty of your eyes,
And in fresh numbers number all your graces,
The age to come would say this poet lies,
Such heavenly touches ne'er touched earthly faces.
So should my papers (yellowed with their age)
Be scorned, like old men of less truth than tongue,
And your true rights be termed a poet's rage,
And stretched metre of an antique song.
But were some child of yours alive that time,
You should live twice in it, and in my rhyme.
一七
未来的时代谁会相信我的诗，
如果它充满了你最高的美德？
虽然，天知道，它只是一座墓地
埋着你的生命和一半的本色。
如果我写得出你美目的流盼，
用清新的韵律细数你的秀妍，
未来的时代会说："这诗人撒谎：
这样的天姿哪里会落在人间！"
于是我的诗册，被岁月所熏黄，
就要被人藐视，像饶舌的老头；
你的真容被诬作诗人的疯狂，
以及一支古歌的夸张的节奏：
但那时你若有个儿子在人世，
你就活两次：在他身上，在诗里。
18
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 wand'rest 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.
一八
我怎么能够把你来比作夏天？
你不独比它可爱也比它温婉：
狂风把五月宠爱的嫩蕊作践，
夏天出赁的期限又未免太短：
天上的眼睛有时照得太酷烈，
它那炳耀的金颜又常遭掩蔽：
被机缘或无常的天道所摧折，
没有芳艳不终于雕残或销毁。
但是你的长夏永远不会雕落，
也不会损失你这皎洁的红芳，
或死神夸口你在他影里漂泊，
当你在不朽的诗里与时同长。
只要一天有人类，或人有眼睛，
这诗将长存，并且赐给你生命。
19
Devouring Time blunt thou the lion's paws,
And make the earth devour her own sweet brood,
Pluck the keen teeth from the fierce tiger's jaws,
And burn the long-lived phoenix, in her blood,
Make glad and sorry seasons as thou fleet'st,
And do whate'er thou wilt swift-footed Time
To the wide world and all her fading sweets:
But I forbid thee one most heinous crime,
O carve not with thy hours my love's fair brow,
Nor draw no lines there with thine antique pen,
Him in thy course untainted do allow,
For beauty's pattern to succeeding men.
Yet do thy worst old Time: despite thy wrong,
My love shall in my verse ever live young.
一九
饕餮的时光，去磨钝雄狮的爪，
命大地吞噬自己宠爱的幼婴，
去猛虎的颚下把它利牙拔掉，
焚毁长寿的凤凰，灭绝它的种，
使季节在你飞逝时或悲或喜；
而且，捷足的时光，尽肆意地摧残
这大千世界和它易谢的芳菲；
只有这极恶大罪我禁止你犯：
哦，别把岁月刻在我爱的额上，
或用古老的铁笔乱画下皱纹：
在你的飞逝里不要把它弄脏，
好留给后世永作美丽的典型。
但，尽管猖狂，老时光，凭你多狠，
我的爱在我诗里将万古长青。
20
A woman's face with nature's own hand painted,
Hast thou the master mistress of my passion,
A woman's gentle heart but not acquainted
With shifting change as is false women's fashion,
An eye more bright than theirs, less false in rolling:
Gilding the object whereupon it gazeth,
A man in hue all hues in his controlling,
Which steals men's eyes and women's souls amazeth.
And for a woman wert thou first created,
Till nature as she wrought thee fell a-doting,
And by addition me of thee defeated,
By adding one thing to my purpose nothing.
But since she pricked thee out for women's pleasure,
Mine be thy love and thy love's use their treasure.
二O
你有副女人的脸，由造化亲手
塑就，你，我热爱的情妇兼情郎；
有颗女人的温婉的心，但没有
反复和变幻，像女人的假心肠；
眼睛比她明媚，又不那么造作，
流盼把一切事物都镀上黄金；
绝世的美色，驾御着一切美色，
既使男人晕眩，又使女人震惊。
开头原是把你当女人来创造：
但造化塑造你时，不觉着了迷，
误加给你一件东西，这就剥掉
我的权利--这东西对我毫无意义。
但造化造你既专为女人愉快，
让我占有，而她们享受，你的爱。
