Shakespeare's Sonnets The Complete Guide PDF generated using the open source mwlib toolkit. See http://code.pediapress.com/ for more information. PDF generated at: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 15:37:45 UTC Contents Articles Shakespeare's sonnets 1 Introduction 9 Petrarch's and Shakespeare's Sonnets 9 Dedication and Characters 15 Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton 15 Sexuality of William Shakespeare 21 Emilia Lanier 25 Mary Fitton 31 Rival Poet 33 The Sonnets 35 Procreation sonnets 35 Sonnet 1 35 Sonnet 2 37 Sonnet 3 38 Sonnet 4 39 Sonnet 5 41 Sonnet 6 42 Sonnet 7 43 Sonnet 8 47 Sonnet 9 48 Sonnet 10 50 Sonnet 11 51 Sonnet 12 52 Sonnet 13 54 Sonnet 14 55 Sonnet 15 57 Sonnet 16 58 Sonnet 17 60 Sonnet 18 62 Sonnet 19 65 Sonnet 20 67 Sonnet 21 70 Sonnet 22 72 Sonnet 23 74 Sonnet 24 76 Sonnet 25 78 Sonnet 26 80 Sonnet 27 82 Sonnet 28 83 Sonnet 29 84 Sonnet 30 89 Sonnet 31 92 Sonnet 32 93 Sonnet 33 94 Sonnet 34 96 Sonnet 35 98 Sonnet 36 102 Sonnet 37 106 Sonnet 38 107 Sonnet 39 108 Sonnet 40 109 Sonnet 41 111 Sonnet 42 112 Sonnet 43 114 Sonnet 44 116 Sonnet 45 117 Sonnet 46 118 Sonnet 47 121 Sonnet 48 122 Sonnet 49 123 Sonnet 50 124 Sonnet 51 125 Sonnet 52 126 Sonnet 53 127 Sonnet 54 130 Sonnet 55 134 Sonnet 56 136 Sonnet 57 137 Sonnet 58 138 Sonnet 59 140 Sonnet 60 146 Sonnet 61 150 Sonnet 62 151 Sonnet 63 153 Sonnet 64 154 Sonnet 65 159 Sonnet 66 162 Sonnet 67 163 Sonnet 68 164 Sonnet 69 165 Sonnet 70 166 Sonnet 71 167 Sonnet 72 168 Sonnet 73 169 Sonnet 74 173 Sonnet 75 174 Sonnet 76 175 Sonnet 77 176 Sonnet 78 177 Sonnet 79 178 Sonnet 80 179 Sonnet 81 180 Sonnet 82 181 Sonnet 83 182 Sonnet 84 183 Sonnet 85 184 Sonnet 86 185 Sonnet 87 186 Sonnet 88 189 Sonnet 89 190 Sonnet 90 191 Sonnet 91 192 Sonnet 92 193 Sonnet 93 194 Sonnet 94 195 Sonnet 95 196 Sonnet 96 197 Sonnet 97 198 Sonnet 98 199 Sonnet 99 200 Sonnet 100 201 Sonnet 101 202 Sonnet 102 203 Sonnet 103 204 Sonnet 104 205 Sonnet 105 206 Sonnet 106 207 Sonnet 107 208 Sonnet 108 209 Sonnet 109 210 Sonnet 110 211 Sonnet 111 212 Sonnet 112 213 Sonnet 113 214 Sonnet 114 215 Sonnet 115 216 Sonnet 116 217 Sonnet 117 221 Sonnet 118 222 Sonnet 119 223 Sonnet 120 224 Sonnet 121 225 Sonnet 122 226 Sonnet 123 227 Sonnet 124 228 Sonnet 125 229 Sonnet 126 230 Sonnet 127 231 Sonnet 128 232 Sonnet 129 233 Sonnet 130 235 Sonnet 131 237 Sonnet 132 238 Sonnet 133 239 Sonnet 134 241 Sonnet 135 242 Sonnet 136 243 Sonnet 137 244 Sonnet 138 245 Sonnet 139 249 Sonnet 140 250 Sonnet 141 251 Sonnet 142 252 Sonnet 143 253 Sonnet 144 254 Sonnet 145 259 Sonnet 146 262 Sonnet 147 264 Sonnet 148 268 Sonnet 149 269 Sonnet 150 270 Sonnet 151 270 Sonnet 152 272 Sonnet 153 273 Sonnet 154 274 Music and Entertainment 275 A Waste of Shame 275 The Dark Lady of the Sonnets 277 When Love Speaks 278 References Article Sources and Contributors 281 Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors 286 Article Licenses License 287 Shakespeare's sonnets 1 Shakespeare's sonnets Shakespeare's Sonnets Author William Shakespeare Country England Language Early Modern English Genre(s) Renaissance poetry Publisher Thomas Thorpe Publication date 1609 Shakespeare's sonnets are 154 poems in sonnet form written by William Shakespeare that deal with such themes as the passage of time, love, beauty and mortality. All but two of the poems were first published in a 1609 quarto entitled SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS.: Never before imprinted. Sonnets 138 and 144 had previously been published in a 1599 miscellany entitled The Passionate Pilgrim. The quarto ends with "A Lover's Complaint", a narrative poem of 47 seven-line stanzas written in rhyme royal. The first 17 sonnets, traditionally called the procreation sonnets, are ostensibly written to a young man urging him to marry and have children in order to immortalise his beauty by passing it to the next generation.[1] Other sonnets express the speaker's love for a young man; brood upon loneliness, death, and the transience of life; seem to criticise the young man for preferring a rival poet; express ambiguous feelings for the speaker's mistress; and pun on the poet's name. The final two sonnets are allegorical treatments of Greek epigrams referring to the "little Love-god" Cupid. The publisher, Thomas Thorpe, entered the book in the Stationers' Register on 20 May 1609: Tho. Thorpe. Entred for his copie under the handes of master Wilson and master Lownes Wardenes a booke called Shakespeares sonnettes vjd. Whether Thorpe used an authorized manuscript from Shakespeare or an unauthorized copy is unknown. George Eld printed the quarto, and the run was divided between the booksellers William Aspley and John Wright. ''Shakespeare's sonnets'' 2 Dedication The sonnets include a dedication to one "Mr. W.H.". The identity of this person remains a mystery and has provoked a great deal of speculation. The dedication reads: Dedication page from The Sonnets TO.THE.ONLIE.BEGETTER.OF. THESE.INSUING.SONNETS. “Mr.W.H. ALL.HAPPINESSE. AND.THAT.ETERNITIE. PROMISED. BY. OUR.EVER-LIVING.POET. WISHETH. THE.WELL-WISHING. ADVENTURER.IN. SETTING. FORTH. T.T. ” Given its obliquity, since the 19th century the dedication has become, in Colin Burrow's words, a 'dank pit in which speculation wallows and founders'. Don Foster concludes that the result of all the speculation has yielded only two "facts," which themselves have been the object of much debate: First, that the form of address (Mr.) suggests that W.H. was an untitled gentleman, and second, that W.H., whoever he was, is identified as "the only begetter" of Shakespeare's Sonnets (whatever the word "begetter" is taken to mean).[2] The initials 'T.T.' are taken to refer to the publisher, Thomas Thorpe, though Thorpe usually signed prefatory matter only if the author was out of the country or dead.[3] Foster points out, however, that Thorpe's entire corpus of such consists of only four dedications and three stationer's prefaces.[4] That Thorpe signed the dedication rather than the author is seen as evidence that he published the work without obtaining Shakespeare's permission.[5] The capital letters and periods following each word were probably intended to resemble an ancient Roman lapidary inscription or monumental brass, thereby accentuating Shakespeare's declaration in Sonnet 55 that the work will confer immortality to the subjects of the work:[6] 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 ''Shakespeare's sonnets'' 3 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 dedicatee of the First Folio of Shakespeare's works. However the "obsequious" Thorpe would be unlikely to have addressed a lord as "Mr".[7] • 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 dedicatee 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. The reservations about "Mr." also apply here. • 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 Foster[8] and by Jonathan Bate.[9] Bate supports his point by reading 'onlie' as something like 'peerless', 'singular' and 'begetter' as 'maker', ie. 'writer'. Foster takes "onlie" to mean only one, which he argues eliminates any particular subject of the poems, since they are addressed to more than one person. The phrase 'Our Ever-Living Poet', according to Foster, refers to God, not Shakespeare. 'Poet' comes from the Greek 'poetes' which means 'maker', a fact remarked upon in various contemporary texts; also, in Elizabethan English the word 'maker' was used to mean 'poet'. These researcher believe the phrase 'our ever-living poet' might easily have been taken to mean 'our immortal maker' (God). The 'eternity' promised us by our immortal maker would then be the eternal life that is promised us by God, and the dedication would conform with the standard formula of the time, according to which one person wished another 'happiness [in this life] and eternal bliss [in heaven]'. Shakespeare himself, on this reading, is 'Mr. W. [S]H.' the 'onlie begetter', i.e., the sole author, of the sonnets, and the dedication is advertising the authenticity of the poems. • William Hall, a printer who had worked with Thorpe on other publications. According to this theory, the dedication is simply Thorpe's tribute to his colleague and has nothing to do with Shakespeare. This theory, originated by Sir Sidney Lee in his A Life of William Shakespeare (1898), was continued by Colonel B.R.