The puzzle, as given, appears to be a Shakespearean sonnet. In fact, all the words come directly from real Shakespearean sonnets. Divide the sonnet into two-word segments; each of these pairs of words (ignoring punctuation and capitalization) appears in a unique sonnet between number 1 and number 26. Mapping these to letters produces a phrase. That is, "Succeeding men" appears only in sonnet 19, so the first letter is S. "in youth" appears only in sonnet 15, so the second letter is O. Continuing produces:
SOLUTIONOFTHEPUZZLETOBEDONEEACHLINETHELETTERATTWONPLUSONE
Which is a rhyming iambic pentameter couplet indicating that you should take one letter from each line in the given sonnet, the one at "TWO N PLUS ONE" (i.e. the 3rd letter of the 1st line, 5th letter of the 2nd line, etc.). Doing so gives the answer COLLABORATIONS.
2006 MIT Mystery Hunt