'Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken.'
Sonnet CXVI
First published in 1609, Shakespeare's Sonnets are considered as some of the most beautiful poems in the English language. Wonderful lines, such as 'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day' or 'To me, fair friend, you can never be old', evoke joy and tenderness, while others express deep passion and desire.
Whether addressed to the Fair Youth, the Rival Poet, or the Dark Lady, these sonnets' universal themes of love, death, and the passage of time hold a meaning for everyone, and it is unsurprising that they have been translated into every major written language.
