Sonnet 144 (along with Sonnet 138) was published in the Passionate Pilgrim(1599). Shortly before this, Francis Meres referred to Shakespeare's Sonnets in "his handbook of Elizabethan poetry, Palladis Tamia, or Wit's Treasurie, published in 1598," which was frequently talked about in the literary centers of London taverns. Shakespeare's sonnets are mostly addressed to a young man; towards the end of the sonnets (transition starting at Sonnet 127) the "dark lady" comes on the scene. Several sonnets portray a conflicted relationship between the poetic speaker, the "dark lady" and the young man. Sonnet 144 is one of the most prominent sonnets to address this conflict.