Sonnet 43

“Sonnet 43” (“When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see”) was written by William Shakespeare between 1593 and 1594. It was first published in a 154-sonnet volume titled Shakespeare’s Sonnets, in 1609. Shakespeare is considered one of the greatest English authors of all time, and worked steadily as prominent playwright and poet from 1592 to 1613. Often called the Bard-of-Avon, or the Bard, Shakespeare’s fame rests mostly on his output as a writer of 39 plays—including Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, and Macbeth. However, early in his career—due to the bubonic plague that caused the shuttering of London theatres—Shakespeare wrote a significant amount of poetry. From 1593 to 1594, he published two epic poems Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. These latter poems gained him patronage, reputation, and wealth, which was then solidified by the reopening of the theatres and his subsequent prolific output of drama.

Shakespeare’s plays feature songs, sonnets, and other poems. “Sonnet 43” is contained in a subgroup of 126 sonnets that are known as the “Fair Youth” portion of the Shakespeare’s Sonnets collection.