In the following essay, Hart explores Shakespeare's treatment of the themes of time and death in the sonnets, observing that Shakespeare's rhetoric in the sonnets transcends the boundaries of language and poetic modes.

In the following essay, Hart explores Shakespeare's treatment of the themes of time and death in the sonnets, observing that Shakespeare's rhetoric in the sonnets transcends the boundaries of language and poetic modes.

In the essay below, Hedley argues that Shakespeare's sonnets to the fair young man are narcissistic in their distinctive use of language and form.

In the essay below, Hedley argues that Shakespeare's sonnets to the fair young man are narcissistic in their distinctive use of language and form.

In the following excerpt, Duncan-Jones reviews the publication history of Shakespeare's sonnets, focusing on several aspects of critical debate related to the 1609 publication.

In the following excerpt, Duncan-Jones reviews the publication history of Shakespeare's sonnets, focusing on several aspects of critical debate related to the 1609 publication.

In the following essay, Fineman studies the language, imagery, and rhetorical structure of Shakespeare's sonnets.

In the following essay, Fineman studies the language, imagery, and rhetorical structure of Shakespeare's sonnets.

Anthony Hecht, Georgetown University It may be that the single most important fact about Shakespeare's Sonnets—at least statistically—is that they regularly outsell everything else he wrote. The plays are taught in schools and universities, and a large annual sale is thereby guaranteed for Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. But the Sonnets are still more widely read. There are several diverse factions among their readership, many of which are not sc...

Emily E. Stockard, Florida Atlantic University Since their mysterious publication in 1609, Shakespeare's Sonnets have resisted a variety of attempts to place an ordering construct on them.1 This essay offers readers a purchase on what strikes many as a bewildering collection of poems. I will suggest that many of the sonnets can be understood as belonging to the tradition of Renaissance consolatory literature. Further, Shakespeare's rhetorical strategies of consolation place the sequ...

In the following essay, Crosman studies the first seventeen sonnets and contends that a distinct narrative may be discerned.

In the following essay, Crosman studies the first seventeen sonnets and contends that a distinct narrative may be discerned.

In the following essay, Schalkwyk maintains that in the sonnets Shakespeare used language as a method of social action.

In the following essay, Schalkwyk maintains that in the sonnets Shakespeare used language as a method of social action.

David Schalkwyk, University of Cape Town In a previous essay on Shakespeare's sonnets and their relation to performance, I have suggested that it may not be especially fruitful to approach these sonnets in particular, and early modern Petrarchan poetry in general, by assuming that their linguistic aims are primarily epistemological.1 I argue in that essay that commentators' mistaken assumptions about what the language of the sonnets is doing lead them to overlook the ways in which a...

In the following excerpt, Dubrow contends that thievery, as it existed in Elizabethan England, is used metaphorically in Shakespeare's sonnets to suggest various types of loss and destabilization.

In the following excerpt, Dubrow contends that thievery, as it existed in Elizabethan England, is used metaphorically in Shakespeare's sonnets to suggest various types of loss and destabilization.

In the following essay, originally presented in 1996, Wright maintains that Shakespeare’s sonnets to the young main introduced a new mode of poetic discourse.

In the following essay, originally presented in 1996, Wright maintains that Shakespeare’s sonnets to the young main introduced a new mode of poetic discourse.

In the following essay, Davey contends that in Shakespeare's sonnets to the dark lady, the poet moves away from the idealization of the first group of sonnets—those addressed to the young man—and instead emphasizes the dark lady's physical, earthly nature and beauty.

In the following essay, Davey contends that in Shakespeare's sonnets to the dark lady, the poet moves away from the idealization of the first group of sonnets—those addressed to the young man—and instead emphasizes the dark lady's physical, earthly nature and beauty.

Jennifer Laws, University of Otago From being largely ignored by early readers and critics, Shakespeare's A Lover's Complaint has in recent years attracted some attention. Questions of authorship and approximate dating may have been exhaustively worked through, but many other problems remain, not the least being the poem's generic status and its relationship (if any) to the sonnets in the 1609 volume.1 These last two aspects are, I believe, intimately connected, for an apprec...

Josephine A. Roberts, Louisiana State University One of the dangers in teaching Shakespeare's sonnets is that undergraduates may quickly become overwhelmed by the array of unanswered and unanswerable questions that surround the 1609 Quarto. When they come to the sonnets with the expectation of hearing the unmediated voice of the Bard, they confront instead a group of shifting and mysterious figures—the fair young friend(s), the rival poet, and the dark lady. If they share Wordsworth's c...

In the following essay, Kernan analyzes the sonnets within the context of the relationship between patron and artist in Renaissance England. The critic maintains that the collection of poems may be viewed as a loosely structured story concerning the relationship between an older poet of lower social standing and a young aristocratic patron.

In the following essay, Kernan analyzes the sonnets within the context of the relationship between patron and artist in Renaissance England. The critic maintains that the collection of poems may be viewed as a loosely structured story concerning the relationship between an older poet of lower social standing and a young aristocratic patron.

In the following essay, Andrews explores Shakespeare's sonnets to the young man. The critic contends that the speaker of these sonnets should be understood as a dramatic character separate from his creator, and demonstrates that through the course of the sequence the speaker journeys from insincerity and delusion to anguish.

In the following essay, Andrews explores Shakespeare's sonnets to the young man. The critic contends that the speaker of these sonnets should be understood as a dramatic character separate from his creator, and demonstrates that through the course of the sequence the speaker journeys from insincerity and delusion to anguish.

In the following essay, Fraser analyzes Shakespeare's departures from standard sonnet form and argues that such deviations were intentional and serve to enhance the quality of the poetry.

In the following essay, Fraser analyzes Shakespeare's departures from standard sonnet form and argues that such deviations were intentional and serve to enhance the quality of the poetry.

In the following essay, Goldstien explores the way in which Shakespeare associates money, love, and art in his sonnets. The critic advocates a balanced interpretation of Shakespeare's money imagery, noting that the poet uses monetary terms to both wound and to praise, and that this underscores society's ambiguous attitude toward wealth.

In the following essay, Goldstien explores the way in which Shakespeare associates money, love, and art in his sonnets. The critic advocates a balanced interpretation of Shakespeare's money imagery, noting that the poet uses monetary terms to both wound and to praise, and that this underscores society's ambiguous attitude toward wealth.

In the following essay, originally published in 1974, Colie explores Shakespeare's sonnets, and contends that Shakespeare made significant deviations from contemporary sonneteering practices.

In the following essay, originally published in 1974, Colie explores Shakespeare's sonnets, and contends that Shakespeare made significant deviations from contemporary sonneteering practices.

Malabika Sarkar, Jadavpur University All readers of Renaissance poetry are unanimous in regarding the sonnets of Shakespeare as constituting the greatest love poetry in the language. Elegant, moving tributes to Shakespeare's handling of the themes of love and time, clever and often sensational investigations of the possible identities of the friend and the dark lady, scholarly and intelligent debates regarding the dates of composition and possible sequence of the sonnets fill many library shelves. Th...

Katherine Duncan-Jones, Somerville College, Oxford The naming, or entitling, of literary works raises questions which range from the abstractly philosophical to the concretely bibliographical. Indeed, this is an area in which such approaches, normally divergent, converge. Some of the metalinguistic problems of naming are amusingly cracked open in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass (1893), where Alice is offered four different names for a song about to be performed by the White Knight. The titl...