Shakespeare's sonnets

Title page from 1609 edition of "Shake-Speares Sonnets"

Dedication page from The Sonnets

SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS, or simply The Sonnets comprise a collection of 154 poems in sonnet form written by William Shakespeare that deal with such themes as love, beauty, politics, and mortality. The poems were probably written over a period of several years. All but two first appeared in a 1609 collection; numbers 138 ("When my love swears that she is made of truth") and 144 ("Two loves have I, of comfort and despair") had previously been published in a 1599 miscellany entitled The Passionate Pilgrim.

The Sonnets were published under conditions that have become unclear to history. For example, there is a mysterious dedication at the beginning of the text wherein a certain "Mr. W.H." is described as "the onlie begetter" of the poems by the publisher Thomas Thorpe, but it is not known who this man was. The dedication also refers to the poet with the equally mysterious phrase "Ever-Living", a term normally applied to the deceased. Also, although the works were written by William Shakespeare, it is not known if the publisher used an authorized manuscript from him, or an unauthorized copy. Oddly, the author's name is hyphenated on the title page and on the top of every other page in the book. These anomalies have helped to fuel the Shakespeare Authorship debate.

The Sonnets of William Shakespeare may be interpreted on several levels of meaning. Dante described these as 1. the literal meaning; 2.the allegorical; 3. moral, and finally the esoteric or anagogical. If one is looking at a literal interpretations one might consider that the first 17 sonnets are written to a young man, urging him to marry and have children, thereby passing down his beauty to the next generation. These are called the procreation sonnets. This would not be the esoteric or religous interpretation, however. While volumes have been written about Shakespeare's plays, including the echoes of Biblical passages [see Noble or Shaheen], interpretations of the Sonnets on a deeper religious or spiritual level has been referred to, but not often explained in depth. In this article, there is a reference to the themes of "love..beauty..morality." In the larger sense, "love" or "beauty" may refer to that which exists on the human level, or to Love and Beauty in the over-arching sense of the Divine. So while most writers reference the literal or plain meaning of the Sonnets, a complete understanding of them, just as a better comprehension of the plays, should include an interpretation on all of the levels described by Dante.

Most of them, however, 18-126, are addressed to a young man expressing the poet's love for him. Sonnets 127-152 are written to the poet's mistress expressing his love for her. The final two sonnets, 153-154, are allegorical. The final thirty or so sonnets are written about a number of issues, such as the young man's infidelity with the poet's mistress, self-resolution to control his own lust, beleaguered criticism of the world, etc.

Dedication to Mr. W.H.

Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton:
Shakespeare's patron at twenty one years of age, one candidate for the "Fair Lord" of the sonnets.

The only edition of the sonnets published in Shakespeare's lifetime, the 1609 Quarto, is dedicated to one "Mr. W.H.". The reality, identity and age of this person remain a mystery and have caused a great deal of speculation.

The dedication in full reads:

TO.THE.ONLIE.BEGETTER.OF.
THESE.INSVING.SONNETS.
Mr.W.H. ALL.HAPPINESSE.
AND.THAT.ETERNITIE.
PROMISED.
BY.
OVR.EVER-LIVING.POET.
WISHETH.
THE.WELL-WISHING.
ADVENTVRER.IN.
SETTING.
FORTH.

- T.T.

'T.T.' stands for Thomas Thorpe, the publisher; it is not certain whether Thorpe or Shakespeare wrote the dedication. The capital letters and periods following each word were probably intended to resemble an Ancient Roman inscription, thereby giving a sense of eternity and magnitude to the sonnets. In the sonnets, Shakespeare often declares that the sonnets will outlast such earthly things as stone monuments and inscriptions. Sonnet 55 states,

Not marble, nor the gilded monuments

Of princes shall outlive this pow'rful rhyme,

126 of Shakespeare's sonnets are addressed to a young man (often called the "Fair Youth"). Broadly speaking, there are two branches of theories concerning the identity of Mr. W.H.: those that take him to be identical to the youth, and those that assert him to be a separate person.

The following is a non-exhaustive list of contenders:

• William Herbert (the Earl of Pembroke). Herbert is seen by many as the most likely candidate, since he was also the dedicate of the First Folio of Shakespeare's works.
• Henry Wriothesley (the Earl of Southampton). Many have argued that 'W.H.' is Southampton's initials reversed, and that he is a likely candidate as he was the dedicate of Shakespeare's poems Venus & Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. Southampton was also known for his good looks, and has often been argued to be the 'fair youth' of the sonnets.
• Sir William Harvey, Southampton's step-father. This theory assumes that the fair youth and Mr. W.H. are separate people, and that Southampton is the fair youth. Harvey would be the "begetter" of the Sonnets in the sense that it would be he who provided them to the publisher.
• William Himself (i.e. Shakespeare). This theory was proposed by the German scholar D. Barnstorff, but has not found much support.
• A simple printing error for Shakespeare's initials, 'W.S.' or 'W. Sh'. This was suggested by Bertrand Russell in his memoirs, and also by |Don Foster in "Master W.H., R.I.P." (PMLA 102, pp. 42-54) and by Jonathan Bate in The Genius of Shakespeare.
• William Hall. Hall was a printer who had been responsible for printing other work that Thorpe had published (according to this theory, the dedication is simply Thorpe's tribute to his colleague and has nothing to do with Shakespeare). This theory, started by Sir Sidney Lee in his A Life of William Shakespeare (1898), was continued by Colonel B.R. Ward in his The Mystery of Mr. W.H. (1923). Supporters of this theory point out that the full name "William Hall" appears if the word "all", immediately following the initials in the dedication, is added to them. There is also documentary evidence of one William Hall of Hackney who signed himself 'WH' three years earlier, but it is not certain that this was the same man as the printer.
• Willie Hughes. The 18th century scholar Thomas Tyrwhitt first proposed the theory that the Mr. W.H. (and the Fair Youth) was one "William Hughes", based on presumed puns on the name in the sonnets. The argument was repeated in Edmund Malone's 1790 edition of the sonnets. The most famous exposition of the theory is in Oscar Wilde's short story "The Portrait of Mr. W.H.", in which Wilde, or rather the story's narrator, describes the puns on "will" and "hues" in the sonnets, and argues that they were written to a seductive young actor named Willie Hughes who played female roles in Shakespeare's plays. There is no evidence for the existence of any such person.
• William Haughton, a contemporary dramatist.
• William Hart, Shakespeare's nephew and male heir. Hart was an actor himself and never married.

In his 2002 Oxford Shakespeare edition of the sonnets, Colin Burrow argues that the dedication is deliberately mysterious and ambiguous, possibly standing for "Who He", a conceit also used in a contemporary pamphlet. He suggests that it may have been created by Thorpe simply to encourage speculation and discussion (and hence, sales of the text).

Structure

The sonnets are each constructed from four stanzas of three quatrains and a final couplet composed in iambic pentameter (a meter used extensively in Shakespeare's plays) with the rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef gg (this form is now known as the Shakespearean sonnet). The only exceptions are Sonnets 99, 126, and 145. Number 99 has fifteen lines. Number 126 consists of six couplets, and two blank lines marked with italic brackets; 145 is in iambic tetrameters, not pentameters. Often, the beginning of the third quatrain marks the "turn", or the line in which the mood of the poem shifts, and the poet expresses a revelation or epiphany.

Characters

Most of the sonnets are addressed to a beautiful young man, a rival poet, and a dark-haired lady. Readers of the sonnets today commonly refer to these characters as the Fair Youth, the Rival Poet, and the Dark Lady. The narrator expresses admiration for the Fair Youth's beauty, and later has an affair with the Dark Lady. It is not known whether the poems and their characters are fiction or autobiographical. If they are autobiographical, the identities of the characters are open to debate. Various scholars, most notably A. L. Rowse, have attempted to identify the characters with historical individuals.

Fair Youth

Main article: Shakespeare's sexuality

The 'Fair Youth' is an unnamed young man to whom sonnets 1-126 are addressed. The poet writes of the young man in romantic and loving language, a fact which has led several commentators to suggest a homosexual relationship between them, while others read it as platonic love.

The earliest poems in the collection do not imply a close personal relationship; instead, they recommend the benefits of marriage and children. With the famous sonnet 18 ("Shall I compare thee to a summer's day") the tone changes dramatically towards romantic intimacy. Sonnet 20 explicitly laments that the young man is not a woman. Most of the subsequent sonnets describe the ups and downs of the relationship, culminating with an affair between the poet and the Dark Lady. The relationship seems to end when the Fair Youth succumbs to the Lady's charms.

There have been many attempts to identify the Friend. Shakespeare's one-time patron, the Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton is the most commonly suggested candidate, although Shakespeare's later patron, William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, has recently become popular [1]. Both claims have much to do with the dedication of the sonnets to 'Mr. W.H.', "the only begetter of these ensuing sonnets": the initials could apply to either Earl. However, while Shakespeare's language often seems to imply that the 'friend' is of higher social status than himself, this may not be the case. The apparent references to the poet's inferiority may simply be part of the rhetoric of romantic submission. An alternative theory, most famously espoused by Oscar Wilde's short story 'The Portrait of Mr. W.H.' notes a series of puns that may suggest the sonnets are written to a boy actor called William Hughes; however, Wilde's story acknowledges that there is no evidence for such a person's existence. Samuel Butler believed that the friend was a seaman, and recently Joseph Pequigney ('Such Is My love') an unknown commoner.

The Dark Lady

Sonnets 127-152 are addressed to a woman commonly known as the 'Dark Lady' because her hair is said to be black and her skin dusky. These sonnets are explicitly sexual in character, in contrast to those written to the "Fair Youth". It is implied that the "I" of the sonnets and the Lady had a passionate affair, but that she was unfaithful, perhaps with the "Fair Youth". The poet self-deprecatingly describes himself as balding and middle-aged at the time of the affair.

Many attempts have been made to identify the "Dark Lady" with historical personalities, such as Mary Fitton or the poet Emilia Lanier, who was Rowse's favoured candidate. Some readers have suggested that the reference to her 'dusky' skin suggests that she may have been Spanish, or even African (for example in Anthony Burgess's novel about Shakespeare, Nothing Like the Sun). Many people, however, continue to maintain that the Dark Lady is merely a work of fiction and never really existed in real life; they suggest that the 'darkness' of the lady is not intended literally, but rather represents the 'dark' forces of physical lust as opposed to the ideal Platonic love associated with the "Fair Youth".

While there are those who want to find biographical connections between the Sonnets and real people in Shakespeare's life, this is conjecture, but of interest as readers explore the lives of many persons who were the author's contemporaries. It must also be considered that the author did not write about anyone in particular, but created the Sonnets out of the vast fountain of his creativity. In addition, if one is looking on the level of deeper interpretations of the Sonnets, then personalities melt away, and the theme of the "Dark Lady" may be found considered as merely the self-centered ego of an individual trying to lure hisor her Spriitual nature toward worldly desires. Thus we see in Sonnet 144 the reference to a "worser spirit a woman, colour’d ill." as being interpreted as the "dark lady". The reference to "better angel" as a "man right fair" one might think of as the author. However, I pose the following interpretation which may have support in the plays of Shakespeare and suggested Biblical themes echoed in the Sonnet. Shakespeare continues in Sonnet 144 the theme of the battle between the Soul and the worldly-oriented ego. "Two loves I have of comfort and despair, Which like two spirits do suggest me still”. The “comfort” is the Soul aspect of Man, and “despair” ensues from pursuit of desires of the ego. The “better angel” is a virtuous “man”, and the “worser spirit” is a “woman, colour’d ill”, being that aspect of the nature which is attracted to worldly allures.

Temptation is the ammunition used by “my female evil” to “corrupt my saint to be a devil”. “my female evil Tempteth my better angel from my side”. It is the sinful character of pride, inherent in the worldly ego, which distracts the “saint”. “Wooing his purity with her foul pride”. It is a seemingly endless ebb and fall, a push-pull of the “two spirits [which] do suggest me still.

Shakespeare states clearly that the “spirits” to which he is referring are both part of his own nature. He makes no adverse judgment about them. “But being both from me, both to each friend”. Whether what seems alluring or attractive to “my angel” will result in the “angel being turn’d fiend” remains uncertain. “Yet this shall I ne’er know, but live in doubt”. Until the “better angel” extinguishes the “fire” of temptation, or is otherwise insulated from “foul pride”, the battle for supremacy will continue. “till my bad angel fire my good one out”.

The reference to the “worser spirit a woman colorur’d ill” and “my female evil”, are not aspersions cast against women. In the esoteric sense, the analogy of the sensuous mind to the female, and the wisdom-guided mind of discrimination to the male has been used by Christian saints and mystics, including the 14th Century mystic, Walter Hilton. He has stated the lower, or sensory mind is like a woman who must be controlled or dominated by the higher mind or consciousness, which Hilton says is likened to a man. There is also an obvious Biblical allusion to the female Eve whose bite of the apple brings Adam (Man) to the fall. We have seen throughout the “dark lady” sonnets this feminine reference in which the woman, whose “mistress’ eyes are raven black” (Sonnet 127.9), represents in Man the self-centered ego which opposes or battles the Soul. In the cosmic sense this refers to the battle between Satan and the Divine; evil against good, perpetually existing in creation trying to “corrupt my saint to be a devil”.

The Rival Poet

The Rival Poet is sometimes identified with Christopher Marlowe or George Chapman. However, there is no hard evidence that the character had a real-life counterpart.

Themes

Shakespeare's Sonnets are frequently more earthy and sexual than contemporary sonnet sequences by other poets. One interpretation is that Shakespeare's Sonnets are in part a pastiche or parody of the three centuries-long tradition of Petrarchan love sonnets, in which the "madonna angelicata" is exchanged for a young man, or the "fair lady" for a dark lady . Shakespeare also violated many sonnet rules which had been strictly obeyed by his fellow poets: he speaks on human evils that do not have to do with love (66), he comments on political events (124), he makes fun of love (128), he parodies beauty (130), he plays with gender roles (20), he speaks openly about sex (129) and even introduces witty pornography (151).

Legacy

Coming as they do at the end of conventional Petrarachan sonneteering, Shakespeare's sonnets can also be seen as a prototype, or even the beginning, of a new kind of 'modern' love poetry. When Shakespeare was rediscovered during the 18th century — and not only in England — the sonnets rose in importance during the nineteenth century.

The outstanding cross-cultural importance and influence of the sonnets is demonstrated by the large number of translations that have been made of them. To date in the German-speaking countries alone, there have been 68 complete translations since 1784. There is no major written language into which the sonnets have not been translated, including Latin, Turkish, Japanese, Kiswahili, Esperanto, and even Klingon.

Selected sonnets

Below are several selected sonnets.

Sonnet 18

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 some time declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall Death brag thou wand'rest 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.

This is one of the most famous of the sonnets. It is referenced in the films Venus (film), Dead Poets Society, Shakespeare in Love, and Clueless and gave names to the band The Darling Buds and the books and television series The Darling Buds of May and Summer's Lease.

Sonnet 30

When to the sessions of sweet silent thought

I summon up remembrance of things past,
I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,
And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste:
Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow,
For precious friends hid in death's dateless night,
And weep afresh love's long since cancell'd woe,
And moan the expense of many a vanish'd sight:
Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,
And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er
The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan,
Which I new pay as if not paid before.
But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,

All losses are restored and sorrows end.

The phrase "Remembrance of Things Past" was used for the original translation of In Search of Lost Time, over the objection of Marcel Proust.

Sonnet 73

That time of year thou mayst in me behold

When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou seest the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire
Consumed with that which it was nourish'd by.
This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,

To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

Sonnet 154

The little Love-god lying once asleep

Laid by his side his heart-inflaming brand,
Whilst many nymphs that vow'd chaste life to keep
Came tripping by; but in her maiden hand
The fairest votary took up that fire
Which many legions of true hearts had warm'd;
And so the general of hot desire
Was sleeping by a virgin hand disarm'd.
This brand she quenched in a cool well by,
Which from Love's fire took heat perpetual,
Growing a bath and healthful remedy
For men diseased; but I, my mistress' thrall
Came there for cure, and this by that I prove,

Love's fire heats water, water cools not love.

Sonnet 141

In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes, For they in thee a thousand errors note; But ‘tis my heart that loves what they despise, Who, in despite of view, is pleas’d to dote, Nor are mine ears with thy tongue’s tune delighted; Nor tender feeling to base touches prone. Nor taste nor smell desire to be invited To any sensual feast with thee alone: But my five wits nor my five senses can Dissuade one foolish heart from serving thee, Who leaves unsway’d the likeness of a man, Thy proud heart’s slave and vassal wretch to be: Only my plague thus far I count my gain, That she makes me sin awards me pain. THEME: Man’s true intellect and reason are awakened as is his faith by spiritual introspection, but the earthly desires of the heart, and Man’s pride do not easily yield, and one must keep up the battle between Soul and ego until all sensuality and pride are vanquished.

GLOSSARY Shakespeare text and easier to interpret language:

In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes, For they in thee a thousand errors note; But ‘tis my heart that loves what they despise, Who, in despite of view, is pleas’d to dote, My love is true and constant, and my eyes truly see the faults and temptations in this world, but the desires of my heart, in contemptuous disregard of my eyes truthful perceptions of love and sin, are content to dote upon temptation.

Nor are mine ears with thy tongue’s tune delighted; Nor tender feeling to base touches prone. Nor taste nor smell desire to be invited To any sensual feast with thee alone:

Neither my ears which hear truth are tempted by the tune of physical sounds, nor is the tender loving of my heart attracted by base physical allures, nor taste, nor smell desire to be invited to any sensual feast where unity with thee alone is sufficient.

But my five wits nor my five senses can Dissuade one foolish heart from serving thee, Who leaves unsway’d the likeness of a man, Thy proud heart’s slave and vassal wretch to be:

Neither my reasoning intellect nor my five senses have the power to deter one foolish heart from serving as an example of thy will, who leaves one reduced to an egotistical man whose likeness is that of a slave and a groveling servitor to his prideful heart and earthly desires.

Only my plague thus far I count my gain, That she makes me sin awards me pain.

My error-strewn life I count as my gain, and that which leads me to sin rewards me with the instructive judgment of suffering.

COMMENTARY on Sonnet's suggested deeper interpretation:

In contrast to eyes that “see not what they see” (Sonnet 137. 2), the eyes in Sonnet 141 have changed. These “in thee a thousand errors note”, but they do not alter the inner “faith”, which seems now to be awakened. The eyes of Sonnet 141 are also not those of Sonnet 137 which “ have err’d, And to this false plague are they now transferr’d” (Sonnet 137.13, 14). The eyes of Sonnet 141 now “despise” the false “thousand errors” to which formerly “the judgment of my heart is tied” (Sonnet 137.8). In Sonnet 141, the heart is attracted to temptations and “loves what they [eyes] despise”. There is a contrast to the previous declaration of Sonnet 137.1 in which the eyes were “blind” to those “eyes” of Sonnet 141 which now are able to distinguish between “faith” and the “thousand errors” which exist. “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Jb. 42:5-6 Sonnet 141 goes on to state: “nor are mine ears with thy tongue’s tune delighted; nor tender feeling to base touches prone. Nor taste nor smell desire to be invited To any sensual feast with thee alone:” Just as stated in Job, there is an awakening, a perception which is beyond the physical, material senses. “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.” Jb. 42:5 “Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty.” Is. 33:17 These are eyes which are “in faith” and perceive that which the physical eyes cannot. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” He. 11:1 This faith does not come by hearing delightful words of the human tongue. “nor are mine ears with thy tongue’s tune delighted” The “faith” in which the Poet describes as being invested with in line one is further described thus: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Ro. 10:17 “Nor tender feeling to base touches prone” means that sensual experience is eschewed in favor of soft, loving sensations of a spiritual nature. “Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.” Song 4:11. These Biblical verses show that the physical senses have an aspect which transcends earthly, material sensualities. One may have the wit to reason and the heightened senses or sensibilities to perceive a higher truth, but a heart which “is pleased to dote” is still mired in base habits, and “loves what they [the opened eyes] despise,” and “leaves unswayed the likeness of a man”. In Sonnet 141 is a “foolish heart” that has sold the divinity of Man made in the likeness of God to one who is made in the “likeness of a man”. He is still of “the wide world’s common place” (Sonnet 137.10) the slave of a “proud heart”, a wretched servitor that “loves what they despise”. In spite of this, the poet says that “only my plague thus far I count my gain, That she that makes me sin awards me pain.” (Sonnet 141.13,14) “She” is the “sovereign mistress over wrack” (Sonnet 126.5) who keeps her “audit” but the poet with eyes now opened truly sees “For they in thee a thousand errors note”. The Poet keeps his own audit now and because of his “plague” can count his “gain”. The “false plague” to which the poet’s “eyes, corrupt by over partial looks” (Sonnet 137.14, 5) where condemned, seems to have been lifted, or healed by “faith”. “Blessed is the man whom thou Chasteneth, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law.” Ps. 94:12

 Related Passages from St. Augustine:

“But what do I love, when I love thee? Not beauty of bodies, nor the fair harmony of time, nor the brightness of the light, so gladsome to our eyes, nor sweet melodies of varied songs, nor the fragrant smell of flowers, and ointments, and spices, not manna and honey, not limbs acceptable to embracements of flesh. None of these I love, when I love my God; and yet I love a kind of light, and melody and fragrance, and meat, and embracement, when I love my God, the light, melody, fragrance, meat, embracement of my inner man;...”* (Compare to Sonnet 141.4-8)

“My will the enemy held, and thence made a chain for me, and found me. For a froward will, was lust made; and lust served, become custom; and custom not resisted, became necessity. But that new will which had begun in me, freely to serve Thee, and wish to enjoy Thee, O God, the assured pleasantness, was not yet able to overcome my former willfulness, strengthened by age. Thus did my two wills, one new, and the other old, one carnal, the other spiritual, struggled within me; and by their discord, undid my soul” (IBID P. 159) “Lust served became custom” or habit which is not easily lodged.”

When reading Sonnet 141, it is clear that the eyes are newly awakened, as is “faith”, however, “the heart that loses what they despise”... “is pleased to dote”. St. Augustine explains that his “new will” struggled with his old “carnal” will, which is like the will or desires of the “foolish heart” in Sonnet 141 to obstinately, “in despite of view”, to go the way it “pleased”. The result is that he is left in “the likeness of a man”, or as Augustine states it, the struggle of wills “undid my soul” (supra). So the Poet finally considers the “plague” as “gain”. This can only be so if his afflictions have a refining influence on his life. “That she makes me sin awards me pain”.

  Bible Passages Suggested By Sonnet 141:

“That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.” 1 Pe. 1:7

“And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope” Ro. 5:3-4

Modern editions ==

Legally, the sonnets (like all of Shakespeare's work) are in the public domain. This has prompted them to be reprinted in many editions.

• Martin Seymour-Smith (1963) Shakespeare's Sonnets (Oxford, Heinemann Educational)
• Stephen Booth (1977) Shakespeare's Sonnets (Yale)
• W G Ingram and Theodore Redpath (1978) Shakespeare's Sonnets, 2nd Edition
• John Kerrigan (1986) The Sonnets and a Lover's Complaint (Penguin)
• Katherine Duncan-Jones (1997) Shakespeare's Sonnets (Arden Edition, Third Series)
• Helen Vendler (1997) The Art of Shakespeare's Sonnets
• Colin Burrow (2002) The Complete Sonnets and Poems (Oxford, Oxford University Press)
• Nigel Tomm (2006) Shakespeare’s Sonnets Remixed (BookSurge)
• James Maxcy (2007) Sonnets Alive (Houghton Mifflin)

See also

• George Bernard Shaw's The Dark Lady of the Sonnets
• Sonnetology

External links

• The Sonnets – full text and commentary.
• The Sonnets – plain vanilla text from Project Gutenberg
• Free audiobook from LibriVox
• Complete sonnets of William Shakespeare – Listed by number and first line.
• Gerald Massey - 'The Secret Drama of Shakspeare's Sonnets (1888 edition)
• Discussion of the identification of Emily Lanier as the Dark Lady