Sonnet 104

“Sonnet 105” by William Shakespeare (1609)

“Sonnet 104” emphasizes physical beauty without mentioning any other qualities in the “fair friend” (Line 1) that might go along with it. However, in “Sonnet 105,” which immediately follows, the speaker presents his friend as having moral virtues as well as beauty. These are kindness and constancy: “Kind is my love today, tomorrow kind, / Still constant in a wondrous excellence” (105.5-6). These two qualities added to beauty lead the speaker to describe his friend three times as “Fair, kind, and true” (105.9, 10, 13).

“Sonnet 106” by William Shakespeare (1609)

This sonnet elaborates on an idea mentioned in “Sonnet 104,” that the friend is the embodiment of “beauty’s summer” (Line 14); beauty has never before attained such perfection. In 106, the speaker consults descriptions of beautiful people as they have been depicted by poets of the past. All their praises of beauty were really just “prophecies” (106.9) of the beauty that his friend presently embodies—they were “all [...] prefiguring” (106.10), foreshadowing the friend’s appearance.

“Sonnet 116” by William Shakespeare (1609)

While “Sonnet 104” extols the beauty of the “fair friend,” this sonnet celebrates the constancy of love.