十四行诗（sonnet，又译作商籁、短诗），首创于14世纪的意大利，因其诗体语句整齐，短小精悍，在欧洲各国沿用至今，成为数百年来历久不衰的诗歌体。
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 grow'st.
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade.
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st.
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see.
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
大多数十四行诗都被诗人用于抒情，是欧洲一种格律严谨的抒情诗体。戏剧大家莎士比亚的这首《夏天》，“我怎能把你比作夏天呢？你比它可爱也比它温婉……”在诗人眼里，“summer”象征着“美”，夏天阳光充沛芬芳怡人，是纯洁的、五彩缤纷的，但诗人心中的“你”，却比夏天可爱多了，比夏天还要温婉，自然界最美丽的季节和“你”相比也要逊色不少。“你”能克服这些自然界的不足，在最灿烂的季节不会凋谢，“你”的任何美都不会消失，“你”是永恒。
据说十四行诗的韵律节拍谨严，简单伴奏就可吟唱。只可惜自己对诗词韵律没有深入学习和研究，未能深刻体会莎翁这首夏天4442的编排和每行诗句的抑扬格音节，只能想像一下歌者在乐器伴奏下的美妙歌喉。
一千个人眼中就有一千个哈姆雷特，一千个人有一千个看法，同一本书、同一首诗，不同的读者会有不同的理解，也会获得不同的阅读体验和作品感受。
诚然，十四行诗在不同诗人笔下也有不同的呈现。到19世纪，英国新浪漫主义诗人拜伦、雪莱也写过情文并茂的十四行诗。其中印象最为深刻的是雪莱的《面纱》，据说毛姆同名小说《面纱》的创作灵感就是来源于这首诗。
Lift not the painted veil which those who live
Call life:though unreal shapes be pictured there,
And it but mimic all we would believe
With colours idly spread,--behind,Lurk Fear
And Hope,twin Destinies;who ever weave
Thier shadows,o'er the chasm,sightless and drear.
I knew one who had lifted it--he sought,
For his lost heart was tender,things to love,
But found them not,alas!nor was there aught
The world contains,the which he could approve.
Through the unheeding many he did move,
A splendour among shadows,a bright blot
Upon this gloomy scene,a Spirit that strove
For truth,and like the Preacher found it not.
