Shakespeare's sonnets

Lore & Background

The primary source of Shakespeare's sonnets is a quarto published in 1609 titled Shake-speare's Sonnets. It contains 154 sonnets, followed by the long poem 'A Lover's Complaint'. Thirteen copies of the quarto have survived. The sonnets cover themes such as the passage of time, love, infidelity, jealousy, beauty and mortality. The first 126 are addressed to a young man; the last 28 are either addressed to, or refer to, a woman. Sonnets 138 and 144 had previously been published in the 1599 miscellany The Passionate Pilgrim.

The publisher, Thomas Thorpe, entered the book in the Stationers' Register on 20 May 1609. Whether Thorpe used an authorised manuscript from Shakespeare or an unauthorised copy is unknown. The quarto includes a dedication to 'Mr. W.H.', whose identity is not known for certain and has been the subject of much speculation. The initials 'T.T.' are taken to refer to the publisher, Thomas Thorpe. Thorpe signing the dedication, rather than the author, might indicate that Thorpe published the work without obtaining Shakespeare's permission, though other explanations exist.

Reader's Guide

Shakespeare's sonnets are significant as a continuation of the Renaissance sonnet tradition, but they depart from earlier conventions by addressing a young man and a Dark Lady, and by exploring themes of lust, infidelity, and acrimony. The 1609 quarto is the primary source, and its title, 'Shake-speare's Sonnets', is consistent with the Stationers' Register entry. The dedication to 'Mr. W.H.' has sparked extensive debate about the identity of the dedicatee, with candidates including William Herbert, Henry Wriothesley, and others. The sonnets are almost all constructed using three quatrains followed by a final couplet, in iambic pentameter, with rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. Exceptions include sonnet 99 (fifteen lines), sonnet 126 (six couplets), and sonnet 145 (iambic tetrameters). The first 17 poems, called the procreation sonnets, urge the young man to marry and have children. Other sonnets express love, brood on loneliness and death, criticize the young man for preferring a rival poet, and express ambiguous feelings for the mistress. The final two sonnets are allegorical treatments of Greek epigrams referring to Cupid.

Did You Know?

• There are six additional sonnets that Shakespeare wrote and included in the plays Romeo and Juliet, Henry V and Love's Labour's Lost, plus a partial sonnet in Edward III.
• The quarto of 1609 contains 154 sonnets followed by the long poem 'A Lover's Complaint'.
• Thirteen copies of the 1609 quarto have survived in fairly good shape.
• The dedication to 'Mr. W.H.' has been speculated to refer to William Herbert, Henry Wriothesley, or even a printing error for Shakespeare's own initials.