Sonnet 88
88th of 154 by William Shakespeare
Sonnet 88 is one of 154 sonnets published in 1609 by the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare. It's one of the Fair Youth sequence.
Sonnet 88 continues the theme of a division between the two friends, based on their differing sense of values. The poet offers to support the young man's rejection of him by listing the poet's own faults, and in this way give double support to the young man.
The paradoxical ideas of self-wounding in this sonnet are outlandish enough, that it is difficult to accept a sincere desire for self-immolation on the poet's part. This is especially clear in the context of other sonnets in the sequence that deal with a division between the poet and the young man. The poet does reserve for himself the story-telling posture ("I can set down a story"), which includes the considerable powers of poetry, powers that have been a recurring theme in the sonnets.
Structure
Sonnet 88 is an English or Shakespearean sonnet, which has three quatrains, followed by a final rhyming couplet. It follows the rhyme scheme, abab cdcd efef gg and is composed in iambic pentameter lines, which is a poetic metre in which each line has five feet, and each foot has two syllables accented weak/strong. Most of the lines are regular iambic pentameter, including the first line:
× / × / × / × / × /
When thou shalt be disposed to set me light, (88.1)
Each line of the second quatrain ends with an extra syllable known as a feminine ending:
× / × / × / × / × / ×
That thou in losing me shalt win much glory (88.8)
/ = ictus, a metrically strong syllabic position.
“Sonnet 88” enters the record as 88th of 154 by William Shakespeare. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Sonnet, 88th and William can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Sonnet 88” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Sonnet, 88th and William provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2837102. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1609.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Sonnet 88”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Sonnet 88 primary sources, Sonnet 88 archive and Sonnet research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Sonnet 88”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Sonnet 88” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.