______Contents
About This Volume ...... vii
THE AUTHOR & HIS WORK
Biography of William Shakespeare ...... 3 Shakespeare the Poet ...... 7 Introduction to Shakespeare's Sonnets ...... 14 The Lasting Allure of Shakespeare's Sonnets ...... 18
HISTORICAL & LITERARY CONTEXTS
English Poetry in the Sixteenth Century ...... 29 Does Shakespeare's Life Matter? ...... 41 The Sins of the Sonnets ...... 51 Shakespeare (Not?) Our Contemporary: His Sonnets and More Recent Examples ...... 65
CLOSE READINGS OF 25 SONNETS
Sonnet 1 ...... 75 Sonnet 18 ...... 77 Sonnet 19 ...... 79 Sonnet 20 ...... 81 Sonnet 29 ...... 83 Sonnet 30 ...... 85 Sonnet 31 ...... 87 Sonnet 53 ...... 89 Sonnet 54 ...... 91 Sonnet 57 ...... 93 Sonnet 73 ...... 95 Sonnet 90 ...... 97 Sonnet 94 ...... 99 Sonnet 97 ...... 101 Sonnet 98 ...... 103 Sonnet 102 ...... 105 Sonnet 104 ...... 107 Sonnet 106 ...... 109 Sonnet 109 ...... 111 Sonnet 116 ...... 113 Sonnet 129 ...... 115 Sonnet 130 ...... 117 Sonnet 141 ...... 119
v Sonnet 146 ...... 121 Sonnet 151 ...... 123
CRITICAL READINGS 1: FORM & TECHNIQUE
The Form of Shakespeare's Sonnets ...... 127 Vocabulary and Chronology: The Case of Shakespeare's Sonnets ...... 137 Sound and Meaning in Shakespeare's Sonnets ...... 149 Ambiguous Speaker and Storytelling in Shakespeare's Sonnets ...... 170 Secrets of the Dedication to Shakespeare's Sonnets ...... 183
CRITICAL READINGS 2: MAIN THEMES
Four Pivotal Sonnets: Sonnets 20, 62, 104, 129 ...... 195 Shakespeare's Sonnets and the History of Sexuality ...... 207 Shylock in Love: Economic Metaphors in Shakespeare's Sonnets ...... 223 Hoarding the Treasure and Squandering the Truth: Giving and Posessing in Shakespeare's Sonnets to the Young Man...... 235 Without Remainder: Ruins and Tombs in Shakespeare's Sonnets ...... 245 Ecosystemic Shakespeare: Vegetable Memorabilia in the Sonnets ...... 261 The Social Masochism of Shakespeare's Sonnets ...... 266 Love's Usury, Poet's Debt: Borrowing and Mimesis in Shakespeare's Sonnets ...... 275 Who Bore the Canopy in Sonnet 125? ...... 282
RESOURCES
Chronology of Shakespeare's Life ...... 289 Works by William Shakespeare ...... 292 Editions of the Sonnets ...... 293 Guide to Free Online Reources on the Sonnets ...... 294 Guide to Literary Criticism on the Sonnets ...... 301 General Bibliography ...... 308 All Sonnets ...... 311 Contributors ...... 340 Index ...... 342
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