Shakespeare wrote one hundred and fifty four sonnets that we know of. In this particular sonnet, Sonnet 129, the speaker reflects on the wonderful way the love from his lover makes him feel. He says that whenever he feels disgraced or alone, troubled and uncared for, he remembers the love of the person to whom he addresses the sonnet and would then "scorn to change [his] state with kings." In other words, the love of this person makes him feel so rich that it does not matter what else he feels he lacks -- friends, riches, good fortune, and so forth -- because he is wealthy in love. Even when it gets so bad that he begins to "almost despis[e]" himself, he can think on the love that he is shown and feel, once again, grateful and blessed.

Shakespeare published 154 sonnets, but he also included sonnets within his plays. For example, the Prologue in "Romeo and Juliet" is a sonnet. 

There are 154 printed sonnets divided into three groups:

o        Sonnets 1 to 126 are addressed to or concern a young man

o        Sonnets 127-152 are addressed to or concern a dark lady

o        Sonnets 153-154 are free adaptations of two classical Greek poems

While it is possible that Shakespeare wrote more sonnets that were lost to history, we have the text of 154 sonnets by Shakespeare.

Greg