Sonnet 20
A sonnet comparing the beloved's beauty to both genders.
Sonnet 20 is among the most famous of William Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets. It belongs to the Fair Youth group (sonnets 1–126), and its subject is widely understood to be a young man, which has led to ongoing discussion about the poet’s own sexuality. Like Sonnet 53, this poem compares the beloved’s beauty to both masculine and feminine qualities.
The sonnet follows the standard English or Shakespearean structure: three quatrains and a concluding couplet, totaling fourteen lines. Its rhyme scheme is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, and it is written in iambic pentameter, a meter built on five pairs of weak and strong syllables. Uniquely, this sonnet uses feminine rhymes—an extra unstressed syllable at the end of every line—throughout. The first line demonstrates this pattern: “A woman’s face with nature’s own hand painted,” with the final syllable falling outside the regular beat.
Scholars generally place Sonnet 20 within the Fair Youth sequence, where the speaker addresses a young man. This reading fuels the common assumption that Shakespeare—or at least the sonnet’s speaker—was homosexual. The sonnet’s position in the sequence also shapes how it is analyzed. William Nelles of the University of Massachusetts–Dartmouth notes that the poem divides readers: some see the sequence as ending here, while others find a continuing narrative thread. Many theories exist about how to organize the sonnets. Some scholars see a clear split between those addressed to a young man and those that are not, while others argue for a complex narrative. Paul Edmondson and Stanley Wells contend that the sonnets are better viewed as a collection rather than a sequence, since they do not form a single unity, and though many of the first 126 poems clearly relate to a young man, others could apply to either gender.
Modern readers often question whether the sonnet reflects Shakespeare’s own sexuality. Context matters: Casey Charles explains that no official identity for a gay person existed in Shakespeare’s time. Words for what we now call homosexual behavior were in use, but the concept of a gay culture or identity was absent. Early modern sodomy laws were rarely enforced, suggesting either that such acts were uncommon or that they were more socially tolerated than we might assume. Shakespeare’s awareness of the poem’s homoerotic overtones does not reveal whether he himself engaged in homosexual act
- type
- Sonnet
- part_of
- Fair Youth sequence (sonnets 1-126)
- form
- English or Shakespearean sonnet
- rhyme_scheme
- ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
- meter
- Iambic pentameter with feminine endings
- notable_feature
- One of only two sonnets in the sequence with feminine endings throughout
Lore & Background
Sonnet 20 is a typical English or Shakespearean sonnet, containing three quatrains and a couplet for a total of fourteen lines. It follows the rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG and employs iambic pentameter. The first line exemplifies regular iambic pentameter with a final extrametrical syllable or feminine ending: 'A woman's face with nature's own hand painted.' Only this sonnet about gender has feminine rhymes throughout.
Sonnet 20 is most often considered to be a member of the 'Fair Youth' group of sonnets, in which most scholars agree that the poet addresses a young man. This interpretation contributes to a common assumption of the homosexuality of Shakespeare, or at least the speaker of his sonnet. William Nelles claims that Sonnet 20 splits readers into two groups: those who see an end to any clear sequence after this point, and those who read on, finding a narrative line connecting the rest of the sonnets in a meaningful pattern.
Scholars have suggested countless motivations or means of organizing Shakespeare's sonnets in a specific sequence or system of grouping. Some see the division between the sonnets written to the 'young man', while others do not. A number of academics believe the sonnets may be woven into some form of complex narrative, while Paul Edmondson and Stanley Wells confidently assert that the sonnets are 'better thought of as a collection than a sequence.'
Reader's Guide
Sonnet 20 is significant for its explicit engagement with gender and sexuality, raising questions about Shakespeare's own sexuality that remain unresolved. The sonnet's structure—with feminine rhymes throughout—has been interpreted as reflecting a 'gender-bending' model. Amy Stackhouse notes that the unstressed syllable is a feminine rhyme, yet the addition of the syllable may also represent a phallus. Philip C. Kolin interprets several lines as written by a homosexual figure, finding sexual puns throughout, while Martin B. Friedman holds that the sonnet is written by a masculine heterosexual figure involved in a heteronormative friendship, with language related to sports. Cathy Shrank contends that Friedman's article was one among many attempts 'to save Shakespeare from the apparent shame of homoeroticism.' The sonnet has been set to music by Rufus Wainwright on his eighth studio album 'Take All My Loves: 9 Shakespeare Sonnets.' The ambiguity of the addressee's gender, resolved only in the final three lines, and the term 'master mistress' maintain uncertainty around the gender of the sonnet's subject.
Did You Know?
- Sonnet 20 is one of only two sonnets in the sequence with feminine endings throughout; the other is Sonnet 87.
- Oscar Wilde's short story 'The Portrait of Mr. W.H.' raises the issue of homoeroticism in this sonnet, suggesting puns on 'will' and 'hues' refer to a seductive young actor named Willie Hughes, though no evidence exists
- The phrase 'to my purpose nothing' has been interpreted as a pun on 'nothing' ('O') to mean vagina, a common pun in Shakespeare.
- John Benson's 'Poems' positions Sonnet 20 to imply a platonic friendship, often arranging poems and assigning titles to infer the subject had been women.
More in Epic Poetry & Myth 1-20
Spotted an error? Know more?
This is a living reference — every entry is fact-audited, and reader corrections feed straight into our audit queue. Suggest an edit · See this site's audit record