Sonnets
Assigned by 3 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1609
- Form
- Lyric poetry
- Language
- English
- Length
- Short · 180 ppunder 120 pages
- Difficulty
- Demanding3 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendShakespeare's SonnetsFolger Shakespeare Library (Simon and Schuster), 2004All 154 sonnets with facing-page paraphrase and notes, which is what a first reader needs.
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A sequence of 154 fourteen-line poems, first printed in 1609, most of them addressed to a beautiful young man and the rest to a dark-haired mistress. The first seventeen urge the young man to marry and have children; the sequence then turns to the poet's love for him, his fear of time and death, a rival poet, and the promise that verse will outlast marble. The final poems record a compulsive and self-disgusted affair with the dark lady.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns Sonnets are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
