莎士比亞十四行詩大約創作於1590年至1598年之間，其詩作的結構技巧和語言技巧都很高，幾乎每首詩都有獨立的審美價值。
詩集分為兩部分，第壹部分為前126首，獻給壹個年輕的貴族(Fair Lord)，詩人的詩熱烈地歌頌了這位朋友的美貌以及他們的友情;第二部分為第127首至最後，獻給壹位"黑女士"(Dark Lady)，描寫愛情。
二、舉例如下（中英文對照）
1、
Shakespeare Sonnet 12莎士比亞十四行詩
When I do count the clock that tells the time,
And see the brave day sunk in hideous night;
When I behold the violet past prime,
And sable curls all silver'd o'er with white:
When lofty trees I see barren of leaves,
Which erst from heat did canopy the herd,
And summer's green, all girded up in sheaves,
Born on the bier with white and bristly beard;
Then of thy beauty do I question make,
That thou among the wastes of time must go,
Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake,
And die as fast as they see others grow;
And nothing 'gainst Time's scythe can make defence
Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence.
翻譯：
當我數著壁上報時的自鳴鐘，
見明媚的白晝墜入猙獰的夜，
當我凝望著紫羅蘭老了春容，
青絲的卷發遍灑著皚皚白雪;
當我看見參天的樹枝葉盡脫，
它不久前曾蔭蔽喘息的牛羊;
夏天的青翠壹束壹束地就縛，
帶著堅挺的白須被舁上殮床;
於是我不禁為妳的朱顏焦慮:
終有天妳要加入時光的廢堆，
既然美和芳菲都把自己拋棄，
眼看著別人生長自己卻枯萎;
沒什麽抵擋得住時光的毒手 ，
除了生育，當他來要把妳拘走。
2、
Sonnet 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 dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.
梁宗岱 譯
我怎麽能夠把妳來比作夏天?
妳不獨比它可愛也比它溫婉:
狂風把五月寵愛的嫩蕊作踐，
夏天出賃的期限又未免太短:
天上的眼睛有時照得太酷烈，
它那炳耀的金顏又常遭掩蔽:
被機緣或無常的天道所摧折，
沒有芳艷不終於雕殘或消毀。
但是妳的長夏永遠不會雕落，
也不會損失妳這皎潔的紅芳，
或死神誇口妳在他影裏漂泊，
當妳在不朽的詩裏與時同長。
只要壹天有人類，或人有眼睛，
這詩將長存，並且賜給妳生命。