# data[].attributes.headline
50 цікавих фактів про Вільяма Шекспіра

# data[].attributes.subject
50 цікавих фактів про Вільяма Шекспіра

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Цікаві факти

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
50 цікавих фактів про Шекспіра

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
1. Вільям Шекспір — один з найвидатніших драматургів в історії. 2. Найвідомішими його романами є «Ромео і Джульєтта» та «Гамлет». 3. Вільям Шекспір —

# data[].attributes.headline
10 цікавих фактів про Вільяма Шекспіра

# data[].attributes.subject
10 цікавих фактів про Вільяма Шекспіра

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Вільям Шекспір досі один з кращих драматургів у світі і дивовижним фактом залишається те, як провінційна людина, яка ніколи не відвідувала коледж стала одним з найбільш визначних та красномовних письменників за всю історію.

1. Шекспір народився у заможній, багатодітній сім'ї. У нього було троє братів та чотири сестри.
2. Коли Вільяму Шекспіру виповнилось вісімнадцять він одружився з дочкою фермера на вісім років старшою за нього. На момент весілля його дружина Анна Гетевей була на третьому місяці вагітності.
3. Згідно з дослідженнями діти Шекспіра та його дружина були не писемними, що було дуже розповсюдженим явищем в ті часи, хоч сам Вільям змалку відвідував місцеву гімназію Стратфорді де і освоїв письмо та латинь.

quote Портрет Шекспіра відомий як Chandos portrait

4. На одному з найбільш відомих зображень Шекспіра, відомому як портрет Чандоса (Chandos portrait) в лівому вусі Шекспіра є золота сережка. Тоді це було дуже модним та свідчило про богемний спосіб життя.
5. Вільям Шекспір дуже вплинув на формування сучасної англійської мови. Завдяки його творчості з'явились такі популярні до сьогодні в повсякденній англійській такі слова і вирази як "fashionable" (модний), "lackluster" (тьмяний), "in a pickle" (в жалюгідному стані), "one fell swoop" (одним махом).
6. Твори Шекспір найбільш цитовані в англійській мові, за популярністю вони поступаються лише цитатам з Біблії.
7. Мало хто знає, що крім написання своїх численних п'єс і сонетів, Шекспір ??був також актором. він часто з'являвся на сцені у власних п'єсах, а також п'єсах інших драматургів.
8. За життя Шекспіра жінкам заборонялось з'являтися на сцені в театрі, а всі жіночі ролі виконували чоловіки. Сьогодні важко уявити як у п'єсі Вільяма Шекспіра "Ромео і Джульєтта" головну жіночу роль виконував чоловік, але тоді це було звичним явищем.
9. Шекспіру приписують винахід імен Олівія, Міранда, Джессіка і Корделія, які за багато років стали звичними у багатьох країнах.
10. У Вільяма була лише одна внучка Єлизавета. Проте вона померла бездітною і тому в Шекспіра сьогодні не має прямих нащадків.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Цікаві факти про Шекспіра | Факт дня українською

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Вільям Шекспір досі один з кращих драматургів у світі і дивовижним фактом залишається те, як провінційна людина, яка ніколи не відвідувала коледж стала одним з найбільш визначних та красномовних письменників за всю історію. 1. Шекспір народився у заможній, багатодітній сім'ї. У нього було троє братів та чотири сестри. 2.

# data[].attributes.headline
Про театр "Глобус"

# data[].attributes.subject
Про театр "Глобус"

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Театр Глобус: інформація про об’єкт, поради туристам - Trips

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Театр “Глобус” у Лондоні – “нащадок” легендарного The globe theatre, який заснував великий письменник та драматург Вільям Шекспір. Знаменитий майстер слова не лише був засновником та одним із співвласників театру, а й брав участь у виставах як артист. На підмостках одного з найстаріших театрів Європи було поставлено практично всі п’єси Шекспіра. І сьогодні у London […]

# data[].attributes.headline
Коротка біографія Вільяма Шекспіра

# data[].attributes.subject
Коротка біографія Вільяма Шекспіра

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
ВІЛЬЯМ ШЕКСПІР

(1564-1616)

Творчість Шекспіра, якого видатний російський критик В. Бєлінський назвав "яскравою зорею й урочистим світанком ери нового, справжнього мистецтва", є найвищим досягненням європейської літератури доби Відродження. Якщо могутня фігура Данте позначає собою початок Ренесансу, то титанічна фігура Шекспіра вінчає його кінець і увінчує його в історії світової культури. Спадщина його набула світового значення, вплинула на творчість численних митців світового значення і зберігає свою актуальність до нашого часу. Найкращі театри світу незмінно включають в свій репертуар його п'єси, а роль Гамлета мріє зіграти хіба що не кожний актор.

Не дивлячись на світовий розголос драматургії і поезії Шекспіра, про самого нього відомого не так вже і багато. Хрестоматійні дані такі. Народився Шекспір 23 квітня 1564 р. у Стретфорді-на-Ейвоні в родині ремісника і торговця. Вчився у місцевій граматичній школі, де вивчали рідну мову, а також грецьку і латинську за єдиним підручником - Біблією. За одними даними школу не закінчив, бо батько через фінансові ускладнення забрав Вільяма до себе помічником. За іншими ж, після закінчення школи був навіть помічником шкільного учителя.

У вісімнадцятирічному віці оженився на Енн Хетауей, яка була на вісім років старшою за нього. Через три роки після одруження покинув Стретфорд. Перші його друковані твори з'являються тільки в 1594 році. Біографи припускають, що за цей період він якийсь час був актором мандрівної трупи, 3 1590 р. працював у різних театрах Лондона, а з 1594 вступив у найкращу лондонську трупу Джеймса Бербеджа. З моменту побудови Бербеджем театру "Глобус", тобто з 1599 р. і до 1621 р. життя його пов'язане з цим театром, пайщиком і актором і драматургом якого він є. Сім'я його весь цей час залишалася в Стретфорді, куди він повертається, припинивши театральну і творчу діяльність, і де вмирає 23 квітня (у день свого народження) 1612 року у п'ятидесятидвохрічному віці.

Його драматургічна і поетична спадщина, згідно "шекспірівського канону" (першого повного видання творів Шекспіра, здійсненого у 1623р.) складається з 37 драм, 154 сонетів та двох поем - "Венера і Адоні" і "Знеславлена Лукреція". Всі драматичні твори Шекспіра написані білим віршем з використанням прози. Поєднання віршів і прози є характерною рисою шекспірівської драматургії, зумовленою як художнім матеріалом, так і естетичними завданнями.

Творчості неперевершеного драматурга і блискучого майстра сонета присвячено тисячі книг. Цікаво, що на долю лише однієї, до цього часу, невирішеної проблеми шекспірознавства, припадає понад 4500 праць. І проблема ця, як не дивно, стосується саме авторства шекспірівських творів: хто ж їх автор - сам Вільям Шекспір чи хтось інший. На сьогодні налічується 58 претендентів, серед яких фігурують такі імена, як філософ Френсіс Бекон, лорди Саутгемптон, Ретленд, граф Дербі і навіть королева Єлизавета.

Основні анти шекспірівські аргументи обумовлені такими фактами. Справжнє прізвище Вільяма, яке значиться в книзі церковних записів про народження і яке збереглося на п'яти ділових паперах у вигляді кострубатих підписів, Шакспер, що принципово відрізняється від Шекспір. Шекспір - ім'я смислове і перекладається як "той, хто потрясає списом". З'явилось воно вже в лондонський період життя Вільяма, коли він за допомогою якихось знатних покровителів отримав сімейний герб, на якому було зображено вершника з піднятим списом у руці. Показово, що більшість виданих в той час шекспірівських творів підписані іменем William Shakespeare, що підкреслює його смислове значення і більше нагадує псевдонім, бо особисті імена так не писались. Викликає подив, що не збереглось жодного рядка, написаного рукою Шекспіра.

Більш серйозні сумніви щодо шекспірівського авторства викликає те, що Вільям ніде не вчився, окрім граматичної школи, і ніде не бував за межами Англії. В той же час шекспірівські твори вражають неперевершеною художньою майстерністю, масштабністю мислення та філософською художньою глибиною проникнення в найважливіші проблеми буття. Вони свідчать не тільки про геніальність їх автора, але й про енциклопедизм його знань, яким не володів жоден з його сучасників. Словник Шекспіра налічує понад 20 тисяч слів, в той час як у Френсіса Бекона лише 8 тисяч, у Віктора Гюго - 9 тисяч.

Свідчать вони і про те, що він знав французьку, італійську, грецьку, латинську мови, добре був обізнаний з античною міфологією, творами Гомера, Овідія, Плавта, Сенеки, Монтеня, Рабле і багатьох інших. До того ж Шекспір вільно почував себе в англійській історії, юриспруденції, риториці, медицині, тонкощах придворного етикету, в житті і звичках знатних осіб. Переважна більшість цих знань в ті часи могла бути одержана тільки в університетах, в яких, як відомо, Шекспір ніколи не навчався.

Остання версія авторства шекспірівських творів з'явилась в 2004 р. Вона найбільш аргументована і доказова і належить ученому секретареві Шекспірівської комісії при Академії наук Росії Іллі Гілілову, який виклав її в книзі "Гра про Вільяма Шекспіра, або Таємниця Великого Фенікса".

Спираючись на численні матеріали і нові знахідки, він доводить, що за ім'ям Шекспіра криється блискучий молодий аристократ граф Ретленд, близький друг лорда Саутгемптона. Цих двох аристократів зв'язувало не тільки соціальне походження, а й вік (Ретленд був молодшим лише на три роки), і палка любов до театру (при їх фінансовій участі був збудований театр "Глобус", де саме відбулись прем'єри всіх шекспірівських п'єс).

Ретленд, був всебічно обізнаною людиною: він вчився в Падуанському університеті; в списках якого за 1596 рік разом з його іменем значаться імена Розенкранца і Гільденстерна, виведених пізніше в трагедії "Гамлет"; вчився в Кембріджському і Оксфордському університетах; виконував королівські доручення при коронованих особах (зокрема, очолював офіційну місію в Датське королівство в червні 1603 р.). За І. Пліловим, Ретленд використовував спритного актора Шекспіра, щоб передавати свої п'єси у театр. З його смертю в 1612 р. завершується і творча діяльність Шекспіра, який у цьому ж році покидає Лондон і більше нічого не пише.

Але хто б не стояв за цим всесвітньо відомим іменем, незаперечним є той факт, що шекспірівські твори у своїй сукупності з надзвичайною силою виразності відбили всю гаму ренесансних роздумів і почуттів - від беззастережного уславлення людини, здатної піднятися силою свого духу і розуму на рівень богоподібного створення, до глибоких розчарувань і сумнівів в божественності її природи. У зв'язку з цим творчий шлях Шекспіра традиційно поділяють на три періоди.

До першого періоду (1590-1600) відносять драми-хроніки (9), комедії (10), трагедії (3), обидві поеми - "Венера і Адоніс" (1592), "Зганьблена Лукреція" (1593) та сонети (1593-1598).

Хроніки, з яких Шекспір розпочав свою творчість, були популярним жанром у його попередників і сучасників, бо вони відповідали на загострений інтерес публіки до своєї історії і політичних проблем сучасності у період напруженої боротьби Англії з Іспанією. Одна за однією з'являються драми-хроніки, особливість яких є вміння драматурга масштабно малювати епоху живими і яскравими барвами, поєднуючи соціальне тло з долею конкретних персонажів: "Генріх VI, частина 2" (1590), "Генріх VI, частина 3" (1591), "Генріх VI, частина 1" (1593), "Ричард НІ" (1594), "Ричард II" (1595), "Король Джон" (1596), "Генріх IV, частина 2" (1597), "Генріх IV, частина 2" (1598) і "Генріх V" (1598).

Паралельно з хроніками Шекспір пише цілу низку комедій: "Комедія помилок" (1592), "Приборкання непокірної" (1593), "Два веронці" (1594), "Марні зусилля кохання" (1594), "Сон літньої ночі" (1595), "Венеціанський купець" (1596), "Багато галасу даремно" (1599), "Віндзорські витівниці" (1598), "Як вам це подобається" (1599) і "Дванадцята ніч" (1600), а також три трагедії: "Тіт Андронік" (1593), "Ромео і Джульєтта" (1594) і "Юлій Цезар" (1598).

Загальний характер творів цього періоду можна визначити як оптимістичний, забарвлений радісним сприйняттям життя у всій його розмаїтості, вірою у торжество розумного і доброго. Гуманістичним пафосом позначені також поеми і сонети, які відкривають реалістичністю своєї поетики новий етап у розвитку поезії Ренесансу. Сонети Шекспіра утворюють сюжетний цикл, побудований на розвитку відносин між поетом, другом і "смуглявою леді". В сонетах постає складний і багатий світ ренесансної людини з її всеохоплюючим поглядом на світ, активним відношенням до життя, багатством душевних почуттів і переживань.

Другий період творчості Шекспіра (1601-1608 pp.) позначений заглибленням поета в аналіз трагічних суперечностей людини, які з усією силою виявились під кінець Ренесансу. Навіть три комедії, написані в цей час, ("Троїл і Крессіда" (1602); "Кінець діло вінчає" (1603); "Міра заміру" (1603) несуть на собі печать трагічного світосприйняття. Драматургічний геній Шекспіра найповніше проявився саме в трагедіях цього періоду: "Гамлет" (1601), "Отелло" (1604), "Король Лір" (1605), "Мак бет" (1606), "Антоній і Клеопатра" (1607), "Коріолан" (1607), "Тімон Афінський" (1608).

Квінтесенцією трагічного світовідчуття цих творів може слугувати сонет № 66, написаний значно раніше:

Я кличу смерть - дивитися набридло

На жебри і приниження чеснот,

На безтурботне і вельможне бидло,

На правоту, що їй затисли рот,

На честь фальшиву, на дівочу вроду

Поганьблену, на зраду в пишноті,

На правду, що підлоті на вподобу

В бруд обертає почуття святі,

І на мистецтво під п'ятою влади,

І на талант під наглядом шпика,

І на порядність, що безбожно краде,

І на добро, що в зла за служана!

Я від всього цього помер би нині,

Та як тебе лишити в самоті?!

(Переклад Д. Павличка).

І, нарешті, третій, романтичний період, який охоплює 1609- 1612 роки. В цей час він створює чотири трагікомедії, або романтичні драми: "Перікл"(1609), "Цимбелін"(1610), "Зимова казка" (1611); "Буря" (1612) і історичну-драму "Генріх VIII" В трагікомедія панує атмосфера казково-фантастичного, в них добро і справедливість завжди перемагають сили зла. Так "цар драматичних поетів" (В. Бєлінський) до останнього свого твору залишається вірним світлим ідеалам гуманістичного мистецтва Ренесансу.

Серед знаменитих трагедій Шекспіра найбільшою популярністю на протязі віків користуються "Ромео і Джульєтта" і "Гамлет".

Трагедія "Ромео і Джульєтта" була написана в середині 90-х років, в перший, так званий, оптимістичний період його творчості, найбільш просякнутий ренесансним пафосом віри в людину і її безмежні можливості.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Шекспір Вільям: Біографія на УкрЛібі

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
ВІЛЬЯМ ШЕКСПІР (1564-1616) Творчість Шекспіра, якого видатний російський критик В. Бєлінський назвав "яскравою зорею й урочистим світанком ери нового, справжнього мистецтва", є найвищим досягненням європейської літератури доби Відродження. Якщо могутня фігура Данте позначає собою початок Ренесансу, то титанічна фігура Шекспіра вінчає його кінець і увінчує його в історії світової культури.

# data[].attributes.headline
Про сонети Шекспіра 

# data[].attributes.subject
Про сонети Шекспіра 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Shakespeare's sonnets are poems that William Shakespeare wrote on a variety of themes. When discussing or referring to Shakespeare's sonnets, it is almost always a reference to the 154 sonnets that were first published all together in a quarto in 1609. However, there are six additional sonnets that Shakespeare wrote and included in the plays Romeo and Juliet, and Love's Labour's Lost. There is also a partial sonnet found in the play .

Shakespeare's sonnets are considered a continuation of the sonnet tradition that swept through the Renaissance from Petrarch in 14th-century Italy and was finally introduced in 16th-century England by Thomas Wyatt and was given its rhyming meter and division into quatrains by Henry Howard. With few exceptions, Shakespeare's sonnets observe the stylistic form of the English sonnet-the rhyme scheme, the 14 lines, and the meter. But Shakespeare's sonnets introduce such significant departures of content that they seem to be rebelling against well-worn 200-year-old traditions.

Instead of expressing worshipful love for an almost goddess-like yet unobtainable female love-object, as Petrarch, Dante, and Philip Sidney had done, Shakespeare introduces a young man. He also introduces the Dark Lady, who is no goddess. Shakespeare explores themes such as lust, homoeroticism, misogyny, infidelity, and acrimony in ways that may challenge, but which also open new terrain for the sonnet form.

The primary source of Shakespeare's sonnets is a quarto published in 1609 titled Shake-speare's Sonnets. It contains 154 sonnets, which are followed by the long poem " A Lover's Complaint". Thirteen copies of the quarto have survived in fairly good shape from the 1609 edition, which is the only edition; there were no other printings. There is evidence in a note on the title page of one of the extant copies that the great Elizabethan actor Edward Alleyn bought a copy in June 1609 for one shilling.

The sonnets cover such themes 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 title of the quarto, Shake-speare's Sonnets, is consistent with the entry in the Stationer Register. The title appears in upper case lettering on the title page, where it is followed by the phrase "Neuer before Imprinted". The title also appears every time the quarto is opened. That the author's name in a possessive form is part of the title sets it apart from all other sonnet collections of the time, except for one- Sir Philip Sidney's posthumous 1591 publication that is titled, Syr. P.S. his Astrophel and Stella, which is considered one of Shakespeare's most important models. Sidney's title may have inspired Shakespeare, particularly if the "W.H." of Shakespeare's dedication is Sidney's nephew and heir, William Herbert. The idea that the persona referred to as the speaker of the Shakespeare's sonnets might be Shakespeare himself, is aggressively repudiated by scholars; however, the title of the quarto does seem to encourage that kind of speculation.

The first 17 poems, traditionally called the procreation sonnets, are addressed to the young man-urging him to marry and have children in order to immortalize his beauty by passing it to the next generation. Other sonnets express the speaker's love for the 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 authorised manuscript from Shakespeare or an unauthorised copy is unknown. George Eld printed the quarto, and the run was divided between the booksellers William Aspley and John Wright.[citation needed ]

Shakespeare's Sonnets include a dedication to "Mr. W.H.":

The upper case letters and the stops that follow each word of the dedication were probably intended to resemble an ancient Roman lapidary inscription or monumental brass, perhaps accentuating the declaration in Sonnet 55 that the work would confer immortality to the subjects of the work:

"Not marble, nor the gilded monuments

Of princes shall outlive this pow'rful rhyme"

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. However, Thorpe's entire corpus of such consists of only four dedications and three prefaces. It has been suggested that Thorpe signing the dedication, rather than the author, might indicate that Thorpe published the work without obtaining Shakespeare's permission. Though Thorpe's taking on the dedication may be explained by the great demands of business and travel that Shakespeare was facing at this time, which may have caused him to deal with the printing production in haste before rushing out of town. After all, May 1609 was an extraordinary time: That month saw a serious outbreak of the plague, which shut down the theatres, and also caused many to flee London. Plus Shakespeare's theatre company was on tour from Ipswich to Oxford. In addition, Shakespeare had been away from Stratford and in the same month, May, was being called on to tend to family and business there, and deal with the litigation of a lawsuit in Warwickshire that involved a substantial amount of money.

Mr. W. H., the dedicatee

The identity of Mr. W.H., "the only begetter of Shakespeare's Sonnets", is not known for certain. His identity has been the subject of a great amount of speculation: That he was the author's patron, that he was both patron and the "faire youth" who is addressed in the sonnets, that the "faire youth" is based on Mr. W.H. in some sonnets but not others, and a number of other ideas.:51-55, 63-68

William Herbert, the Earl of Pembroke, is seen as perhaps the most likely identity of Mr. W.H. and the "young man". He was the dedicatee of the First Folio. Thorpe would have been unlikely to have addressed a lord as "Mr", but there may be an explanation, perhaps that form of address came from the author, who wanted to refer to Herbert at an earlier time-when Herbert was a "younger man". There is a later dedication to Herbert in another quarto of verse, Ben Jonson's Epigrammes (1616), in which the text of Jonson's dedication begins, "MY LORD, While you cannot change your merit, I dare not change your title ... " Jonson's emphasis on Pembroke's title, and his comment, seem to be chiding someone else who had the audacity to use the wrong title, as perhaps is the case in Shakespeare's dedication.

Henry Wriothesley (the Earl of Southampton), with initials reversed, has received a great deal of consideration as a likely possibility. He was the dedicatee of Shakespeare's poems Venus & Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. Southampton was also known for his good looks.[citation needed ]

The following is a list of other possibilities that have been suggested:

A simple printing error for Shakespeare's initials, "W.S." or "W. Sh". This was suggested by Bertrand Russell and by Jonathan Bate.

William Hall, a printer who had worked with Thorpe. It is noted that "ALL" following "MR. W. H." spells "MR. W. HALL". Using his initials W.H., Hall had edited a collection of the poems of Robert Southwell that was printed by George Eld, the printer of the 1609 Sonnets.

William Hart, Shakespeare's nephew and male heir.

Who He. It has been argued that the dedication is deliberately ambiguous, possibly standing for "Who He", a conceit also used in a contemporary pamphlet. It might have been created by Thorpe to encourage speculation and discussion (and hence, sales).

Willie Hughes. The 18th-century scholar Thomas Tyrwhitt proposed "William Hughes", based on puns on the name in the sonnets (notably Sonnet 20). This idea is expressed in Oscar Wilde's short story "The Portrait of Mr. W. H.", and that the sonnets were written to a young actor who played female roles in Shakespeare's plays.

The sonnets are almost all constructed of three quatrains (four-line stanzas) followed by a final couplet. The sonnets are composed in iambic pentameter, the meter used in Shakespeare's plays.

The rhyme scheme is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. Sonnets using this scheme are known as Shakespearean sonnets, or English sonnets, or Elizabethan sonnets. Often, at the end of the third quatrain occurs the volta ("turn"), where the mood of the poem shifts, and the poet expresses a turn of thought.

There are a few exceptions: Sonnets 99, 126, and 145. Number 99 has fifteen lines. Number 126 consists of six couplets, and two blank lines marked with italic brackets; 145 is in iambic tetrameters, not pentameters. In one other variation on the standard structure, found for example in sonnet 29, the rhyme scheme is changed by repeating the second (B) rhyme of quatrain one as the second (F) rhyme of quatrain three.

Apart from rhyme, and considering only the arrangement of ideas, and the placement of the volta, a number of sonnets maintain the two-part organization of the Italian sonnet. In that case the term "octave" and "sestet" are commonly used to refer to the sonnet's first eight lines followed by the remaining six lines. There are other line-groupings as well, as Shakespeare finds inventive ways with the content of the fourteen line poems.

When analysed as characters, the subjects of the sonnets are usually referred to as the Fair Youth, the Rival Poet, and the Dark Lady. The speaker expresses admiration for the Fair Youth's beauty, and-if reading the sonnets in chronological order as published-later has an affair with the Dark Lady, then so does the Fair Youth. Current linguistic analysis and historical evidence suggests, however, that the sonnets to the Dark Lady were composed first (around 1591-95), the procreation sonnets next, and the later sonnets to the Fair Youth last (1597-1603). It is not known whether the poems and their characters are fiction or autobiographical; scholars who find the sonnets to be autobiographical have attempted to identify the characters with historical individuals.

The "Fair Youth" is the unnamed young man addressed by the devoted poet in the greatest sequence of the sonnets ( 1- 126). The young man is handsome, self-centered, universally admired and much sought after. The sequence begins with the poet urging the young man to marry and father children (sonnets 1-17). It continues with the friendship developing with the poet's loving admiration, which at times is homoerotic in nature. Then comes a set of betrayals by the young man, as he is seduced by the Dark Lady, and they maintain a liaison (sonnets 133, 134 & 144), all of which the poet struggles to abide. It concludes with the poet's own act of betrayal, resulting in his independence from the fair youth (sonnet 152).

The identity of the Fair Youth has been the subject of speculation among scholars. One popular theory is that he was Henry Wriothesley, the 3rd Earl of Southampton, this is based in part on the idea that his physical features, age, and personality might fairly match the young man in the sonnets. He was both an admirer and patron of Shakespeare and was considered one of the most prominent nobles of the period. It is also noted that Shakespeare's 1593 poem Venus and Adonis is dedicated to Southampton, and in that poem a young man, Adonis, is encouraged by the goddess of love, Venus, to beget a child, which is a theme in the sonnets. Here are the verses from Venus and Adonis:

Torches are made to light, jewels to wear,
Dainties to taste, fresh beauty for the use,
Herbs for their smell, and sappy plants to bear;
Things growing to themselves are growth's abuse,
Seeds spring from seeds, and beauty breedeth beauty;
Thou wast begot; to get it is thy duty.

Upon the earth's increase why shouldst thou feed,
Unless the earth with thy increase be fed?
By law of nature thou art bound to breed,
That thine may live when thou thyself art dead;
And so in spite of death thou dost survive,
In that thy likeness still is left alive.

A problem with identifying the fair youth with Southampton is that the most certainly datable events referred to in the Sonnets are the fall of Essex and then the gunpowder plotters' executions in 1606, which puts Southampton at the age of 33, and then 39 when the sonnets were published, when he would be past the age when he would be referred to as a "lovely boy" or "fair youth".

Authors such as Thomas Tyrwhitt and Oscar Wilde proposed that the Fair Youth was William Hughes, a seductive young actor who played female roles in Shakespeare's plays. Particularly, Wilde claimed that he was the Mr. W.H. referred to in the dedication attached to the manuscript of the Sonnets.

The Dark Lady

The Dark Lady sequence (sonnets 127-152) Shakespeare is the most defiant of the sonnet tradition. The sequence distinguishes itself from the Fair Youth sequence with its overt sexuality ( Sonnet 151). The Dark Lady is so called because she has black hair and dun coloured skin. The Dark Lady suddenly appears (Sonnet 127), and she and the speaker of the sonnets, the poet, are in a sexual relationship. She is not aristocratic, young, beautiful, intelligent or chaste. Her complexion is muddy, her breath "reeks", and she is ungainly when she walks. The relationship has a strong parallel with Touchstone's pursuit of Audrey in As You Like It. The Dark Lady presents an adequate receptor for male desire. She is celebrated in cocky terms that would be offensive to her, not that she would be able to read or understand what's said. Soon the speaker rebukes her for enslaving his fair friend (sonnet 130). He can't abide the triangular relationship, and it ends with him rejecting her. As with the Fair Youth, there have been many attempts to identify her with a real historical individual. Lucy Negro, Mary Fitton, Emilia Lanier, Elizabeth Wriothesley, and others have been suggested.

The Rival Poet

The Rival Poet's identity remains a mystery. If Shakespeare's patron and friend was Pembroke, Shakespeare was not the only poet that praised his beauty; Francis Davison did in a sonnet that is the preface to Davison's quarto A Poetical Rhapsody (1608), which was published just before Shakespeare's Sonnets. John Davies of Hereford, Samuel Daniel, George Chapman, Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson are also candidates that find support among clues in the sonnets.

It may be that the Rival Poet is a composite of several poets through which Shakespeare explores his sense of being threatened by competing poets. The speaker sees the Rival Poet as competition for fame and patronage. The sonnets most commonly identified as the Rival Poet group exist within the Fair Youth sequence in sonnets 78- 86.

"A Lover's Complaint"

"A Lover's Complaint" is part two of the quarto published in 1609. It is not written in the sonnet form, but is composed of 47 seven-line stanzas written in rhyme royal. It is an example of a normal feature of the two-part poetic form, in which the first part expresses the male point of view, and the second part contrasts or complements the first part with the female's point of view. The first part of the quarto, the 154 sonnets, considers frustrated male desire, and the second part, "A Lover's Complaint", expresses the misery of a woman victimized by male desire. The earliest Elizabethan example of this two-part structure is Samuel Daniel's Delia ... with the Complaint of Rosamund (1592)-a sonnet sequence that tells the story of a woman being threatened by a man of higher rank, followed by the woman's complaint. This was imitated by other poets, including Shakespeare with his Rape of Lucrece, the last lines of which contain Lucrece's complaint. Other examples are found in the works of Michael Drayton, Thomas Lodge, Richard Barnfield, and others.

The young man of the sonnets and the young man of "A Lover's Complaint" provide a thematic link between the two parts. In each part the young man is handsome, wealthy and promiscuous, unreliable and admired by all.

Like the sonnets, " A Lover's Complaint" also has a possessive form in its title, which is followed by its own assertion of the author's name. This time the possessive word, "Lover's", refers to a woman, who becomes the primary "speaker" of the work.

Story of "A Lover's Complaint"

"A Lover's Complaint" begins with a young woman weeping at the edge of a river, into which she throws torn-up letters, rings, and other tokens of love. An old man nearby approaches her and asks the reason for her sorrow. She responds by telling him of a former lover who pursued, seduced, and finally abandoned her. She recounts in detail the speech her lover gave to her which seduced her. She concludes her story by conceding that she would fall for the young man's false charms again.

1597 - Shakespeare's tragedy, Romeo and Juliet is published. The spoken prologue to the play, and the prologue to Act II are both written in sonnet form, and the first meeting of the star-crossed lovers is written as a sonnet woven into the dialogue.

1598 - Love's Labour's Lost is published as a quarto; the play's title page suggests it is a revision of an earlier version. The comedy features the King of Navarre and his lords who express their love in sonnet form for the Queen of France and her ladies. This play is believed to have been performed at the Inns of Court for Queen Elizabeth I in the mid-1590s.

1598 - Francis Meres published his quarto Palladis Tamia, which was entered on the Stationers' Register on 7 September that year. In it he mentions that sonnets by Shakespeare were being circulated privately:

As the soule of Euphorbus was thought to live in Pythagoras: so the sweete wittie soule of Ouid liues in mellifluous & hony-tongued Shakespeare, witnes his Venus and Adonis, his Lucrece, his sugred Sonnets among his private friends, &c.

1599 - William Jaggard published an octavo volume called The Passionate Pilgrime. By W. Shakespeare. It is an anthology of 20 poems. This small publication contained some spurious content falsely ascribed to Shakespeare; it also contained four sonnets that can be said to be by Shakespeare: Two of the four appear to be early versions of sonnets that were later published in the 1609 quarto (numbers 138 and 144); the other two were sonnets lifted from Shakespeare's play Love's Labour's Lost. Sonnets 138 and 144 are anything but the sweet sonnets hinted at by Francis Meres' comment. They are instead harshly frank, ironic and recriminative regarding the relationship of the speaker and the Dark Lady. The two sonnets that were taken from Love's Labour's Lost, were, in the context of the play, written by comic characters who were intended to be seen as amateur sonneteers. Jaggard's piracy sold well-a second printing was quickly ordered-but it, including poetry falsely ascribed to Shakespeare, must have been a disappointment to Shakespeare's readers.

January 1600 - an entry in the Stationers' Register is for a work that will include "certain other sonnets by W.S." This may suggest that Shakespeare planned to respond right away and correct the impression left by Jaggard's book with Shakespeare's own publication, or the entry may have been merely a "staying entry" not regarding an upcoming publication, but intended to prevent Jaggard from publishing any more sonnets by Shakespeare.

14 August 1600 - Shakespeare's play The Chronicle History of Henry the fifth is entered into the Register of the Stationers' Company. The spoken epilogue is written in the form of a sonnet.

20 May 1609 - The entry in the Stationers' Register announces Shakespeare's Sonnets. The contents include a collection of 154 sonnets followed by the poem "A Lover's Complaint". This publication was greeted with near silence in the documentary record, especially when compared with the lively reception that followed the publication of Venus and Adonis.

1612 - Jaggard issues an expanded edition of his piratical anthology, The Passionate Pilgrim, which had been published in 1599. Thomas Heywood protests this piracy in his Apology for Actors (1612), writing that Shakespeare was "much offended" with Jaggard for making "so bold with his name." Jaggard withdraws the attribution to Shakespeare from unsold copies of the 1612 edition.

1640 - The publisher John Benson publishes an anthology of poems; some are by Shakespeare, and about 30 are not, but all are ascribed to Shakespeare. It is titled ″Poems: Written by Wil. Shakespeare Gent". Benson is even more wildly piratical than Jaggard. Benson draws on The Passionate Pilgrim and other sources, including Shakespeare's Sonnets (1609), which he rewrites and rearranges. Benson imperfectly rewrites the sonnets to make them appear to be addressing a woman-the pronoun "he" is often replaced by "she". This edition is unfortunately influential and resulted in confusing and confounding various critical understanding and response for more than a century. Deliberate mis-gendering is also a feature of 17th-century commonplace books which include Sonnet 2, the most popular sonnet to appear in such collections. In Margaret Bellasys' commonplace book the poem appears with the non-gendered title, 'Spes Altera'. In IA's commonplace book, the gender of the addressee is explicitly changed with the title, 'To one that would die a mayd'.

1780 - Edmond Malone, in his two volume supplement to the 1778 Johnson-Stevens edition of the plays, finally instates the 1609 quarto edition of Shakespeare's Sonnets as the sole authoritative text.

1986 - The New Penguin Shakespeare's edition of the sonnets restores "A Lover's Complaint" as an integral part of Shakespeare's Sonnets.

In his plays, Shakespeare himself seemed to be a satiric critic of sonnets-the allusions to them are often scornful. Then Shakespeare went on to create one of the longest sonnet-sequences of his era, a sequence that took some sharp turns away from the tradition.

He may have been inspired out of literary ambition, and a desire to carve new paths apart from the well-worn tradition. Or he may have been inspired by biographical elements in his life. It is thought that the biographical aspects have been over-explored and over-speculated on, especially in the face of a paucity of evidence. The critical focus has turned instead (through New Criticism and by scholars such as Stephen Booth and Helen Vendler) to the text itself, which is studied and appreciated linguistically as a "highly complex structure of language and ideas".

Besides the biographic and the linguistic approaches, another way of considering Shakespeare's sonnets is in the context of the culture and literature that surrounds them.

Gerald Hammond, in his book The Reader and the Young Man Sonnets, suggests that the non-expert reader, who is thoughtful and engaged, does not need that much help in understanding the sonnets: though, he states, the reader may often feel mystified when trying to decide, for example, if a word or passage has a concrete meaning or an abstract meaning; laying that kind of perplexity in the reader's path for the reader to deal with is an essential part of reading the sonnets-the reader doesn't always benefit from having knots untangled and double-meanings simplified by the experts, according to Hammond.

During the eighteenth century, The Sonnets' reputation in England was relatively low; in 1805, The Critical Review credited John Milton with the perfection of the English sonnet. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, Shakespeare and Milton seemed to be on an equal footing, but critics, burdened by an over-emphasis on biographical explorations, continued to contend with each other for decades on this point.

Like all Shakespeare's works, Shakespeare's Sonnets have been reprinted many times. Prominent editions include:

First edition and facsimile

Variorum editions

Modern critical editions

There are sonnets written by Shakespeare that occur in his plays. They differ from the 154 sonnets published in the 1609, because they may lack the deep introspection, for example, and they are written to serve the needs of a performance, exposition or narrative.

In Shakespeare's early comedies, the sonnets and sonnet-making of his characters are often objects of satire. In Two Gentlemen of Verona, sonnet-writing is portrayed cynically as a seduction technique. In Love's Labour's Lost, sonnets are portrayed as evidence that love can render men weak and foolish. In Much Ado About Nothing, Beatrice and Benedick each write a sonnet, which serves as proof that they have fallen in love. In All's Well that Ends Well, a partial sonnet is read, and Bertram comments, "He shall be whipp'd through the army with this rhyme in's forehead." In Henry V, the Dauphin suggests he will compose a sonnet to his horse.

The sonnets that Shakespeare satirizes in his plays are sonnets written in the tradition of Petrarch and Sidney, whereas Shakespeare's sonnets published in the quarto of 1609 take a radical turn away from that older style, and have none of the lovelorn qualities that are mocked in the plays. The sonnets published in 1609 seem to be rebelling against the tradition.

In the play Love's Labour's Lost, the King and his three lords have all vowed to live like monks, to study, to give up worldly things, and to see no women. All of them break the last part of the vow by falling in love. The lord Longaville expresses his love in a sonnet ("Did not the heavenly rhetoric of thine eye..."), and the lord Berowne does, too-a hexameter sonnet ("If love make me forsworn, how shall I swear to love?"). These sonnets contain comic imperfections, including awkward phrasing, and problems with the meter. After Berowne is caught breaking his vow, and exposed by the sonnet he composed, he passionately renounces speech that is affected, and vows to prefer plain country speech. Ironically, when proclaiming this he demonstrates that he can't seem to avoid rich courtly language, and his speech happens to fall into the meter and rhyme of a sonnet. ("O, never will I trust to speeches penned...")

The epilogue at the end of the play Henry V is written in the form of a sonnet ("Thus far with rough, and all-unable pen...").

Three sonnets are found in Romeo and Juliet: The prologue to the play ("Two households, both alike in dignity..."), the prologue to the second act ("Now old desire doth in his death-bed lie..."), and set in the form of dialogue at the moment when Romeo and Juliet meet:

ROMEO
If I profane with my unworthiest hand
This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this:
My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand
To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.
JULIET
Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,
Which mannerly devotion shows in this;
For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch,
And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss.
ROMEO
Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?
JULIET
Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.
ROMEO
O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do;
They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.
JULIET
Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake.
ROMEO
Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take.

The play has recently become accepted as part of Shakespeare's canon of plays. It was considered an anonymous work, and that is how it was first published, but in the late 1990s it began to be included in publications of the complete works as co-authored by Shakespeare. Scholars who have supported this attribution include Jonathan Bate, Edward Capell, Eliot Slater, Eric Sams, Giorgio Melchiori, Brian Vickers, and others. The play, printed in 1596, contains language and themes that also appear in Shakespeare's sonnets, including the line: "Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds", which occurs in sonnet 94 and the phrase "scarlet ornaments", which occurs in sonnet 142. The scene of the play that contains those quotations is a comic scene that features a poet attempting to compose a love poem at the behest of his king, Edward III. At the time Edward III was published, Shakespeare's sonnets were known by some, but they had not yet been published.

The king, Edward III, has fallen in love with the Countess of Salibury, and he tells Lodowick, his secretary, to fetch ink and paper. Edward wants Lodowick's help in composing a poem that will sing the praises of the countess. Lodowick has a question:

LODOWICK
Write I to a woman?

KING EDWARD
What beauty else could triumph over me,
Or who but women do our love lays greet?
What, thinkest thou I did bid thee praise a horse?

The king then expresses and dictates his passion in exuberant poetry, and asks Lodowick to read back to him what he has been able to write down. Lodowick reads:

LODOWICK.
'More fair and chaste'-

KING EDWARD.
I did not bid thee talk of chastity ...

When the countess enters, the poetry-writing scene is interrupted without Lodowick having accomplished much poetry-only two lines:

More fair and chaste than is the queen of shades,
More bold in constance ... Than Judith was.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Shakespeare's sonnets are poems that William Shakespeare wrote on a variety of themes. When discussing or referring to Shakespeare's sonnets, it is almost always a reference to the 154 sonnets that were first published all together in a quarto in 1609.

# data[].attributes.headline
Всі сонети Вільяма Шекспіра з поясненням їх значень (англійською).

# data[].attributes.subject
Всі сонети Вільяма Шекспіра з поясненням їх значень (англійською).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Take your pick of Shakespeare's sonnets below, along with a modern English interpretation of each one aid understanding.

Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets published in his 'quarto' in 1609, covering themes such as the passage of time, mortality, love, beauty, infidelity, and jealousy. The first 126 of Shakespeare's sonnets are addressed to a young man, and the last 28 addressed to a woman - a mysterious 'dark lady'.

What is a Shakespearean sonnet?

Shakespeare's sonnets are poems of expressive ideas and thoughts that are layered with multiple meanings, and always have two things in common:
1. All sonnets have fourteen lines 2. All sonnets are written in iambic pentameter
Read more about what a sonnet is, and iambic pentameter.

Read all 154 of Shakespeare's sonnets

Take your pick from the list of Shakespeare sonnets below (or learn how to write a sonnet of your own!):
Sonnet 1: From Fairest Creatures We Desire Increase Sonnet 2: When Forty Winters Shall Besiege Thy Brow Sonnet 3: Look In Thy Glass, And Tell The Face Thou Viewest Sonnet 4: Unthrifty Loveliness, Why Dost Thou Spend Sonnet 5: Those Hours, That With Gentle Work Did Frame Sonnet 6: Then Let Not Winter's Ragged Hand Deface Sonnet 7: Lo! In The Orient When The Gracious Light Sonnet 8: Music To Hear, Why Hear'st Thou Music Sadly? Sonnet 9: Is It For Fear To Wet A Widow's Eye Sonnet 10: For Shame Deny That Thou Bear'st Love To Any Sonnet 11: As Fast As Thou Shalt Wane, So Fast Thou Grow Sonnet 12: When I Do Count The Clock That Tells Time Sonnet 13: O! That You Were Your Self! But, Love, You Are Sonnet 14: Not From The Stars Do I My Judgement Pluck Sonnet 15: When I Consider Everything That Grows Sonnet 16: But Wherefore Do Not You A Mightier Way Sonnet 17: Who Will Believe In My Verse In Time To Come Sonnet 18: Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day? Sonnet 19: Devouring Time, Blunt Thou The Lion's Paw Sonnet 20: A Woman's Face With Nature's Own Hand Painted Sonnet 21: So It Is Not With Me As With That Muse Sonnet 22: My Glass Shall Not Persuade Me I Am Old Sonnet 23: As An Unperfect Actor On The Stage Sonnet 24: Mine Eye Hath Play'd The Painter and Hath Steel'd Sonnet 25: Let Those Who Are In Favour With Their Stars Sonnet 26: Lord Of My Love, To Whom In Vassalage Sonnet 27: Weary With Toil, I Haste To My Bed Sonnet 28: How Can I Then Return In Happy Plight Sonnet 29: When In Disgrace With Fortune and Men's Eyes Sonnet 30: When To The Sessions Of Sweet Silent Thought Sonnet 31: Thy Bosom Is Endeared With All Hearts Sonnet 32: If Thou Survive My Well-Contented Day Sonnet 33: Full Many A Glorious Morning I Have Seen Sonnet 34: Why Didst Thou Promise Such A Beauteous Day Sonnet 35: No More Be Grieved At That Which Thou Hast Done Sonnet 36: Let Me Confess That We Two Must Be Twain Sonnet 37: As A Decrepit Father Takes Delight Sonnet 38: How Can My Muse Want Subject To Invent Sonnet 39: O! How Thy Worth With Manners May I Sing Sonnet 40: Take All My Loves, My Love, Yea Take Them All Sonnet 41: Those Pretty Wrongs That Liberty Commits Sonnet 42: That Thou Hast It Is Not All My Grief Sonnet 43: When Most I Wink, Then Do Mine Eyes Best See Sonnet 44: If The Dull Substance Of My Flesh Were Thought Sonnet 45: That Thou Hast It Is Not All My Grief Sonnet 46: Mine Eye And Heart Are At A Mortal War Sonnet 47: Betwixt Mine Eye And Heart A League Is Took Sonnet 48: How Careful Was I When I Took My Way Sonnet 49: Against That Time, If Ever That Time Come Sonnet 50: How Heavy Do I Journey On The Way Sonnet 51: Thus Can My Love Excuse The Slow Offence Sonnet 52: So Am I As The Rich, Whose Blessed Key Sonnet 53: What Is Your Substance, Whereof Are You Made Sonnet 54: O! How Much More Doth Beauty Beauteous Seem Sonnet 55: O! Not Marble, Nor The Gilded Monuments Sonnet 56: Sweet Love, Renew Thy Force; Be It Not Said Sonnet 57: Being Your Slave What Should I Do But Tend Sonnet 58: That God Forbid, That Made Me First Your Slave Sonnet 59: If There Be Nothing New, But That Which Is Sonnet 60: Like As The Waves Make Towards The Pebbled Shore Sonnet 61: Is It Thy Will, Thy Image Should Keep Open Sonnet 62: Sin Of Self-love Possesseth All Mine Eye Sonnet 63: Against My Love Shall Be As I Am Now Sonnet 64: When I Have Seen By Time's Fell Hand Defac'd Sonnet 65: Since Brass, Nor Stone, Nor Earth, Nor Boundless Sea Sonnet 66: Tired For All These, For Restful Death I Cry Sonnet 67: Ah! Wherefore With Infection Should He Live Sonnet 68: In Days Long Since, Before These Last So Bad Sonnet 69: Those Parts Of Thee That The World's Eye Doth View Sonnet 70: That Thou Art Blamed Shall Not Be Thy Defect Sonnet 71: No Longer Mourn For Me When I Am Dead Sonnet 72: O! Lest The World Should Task You To Recite Sonnet 73: That Time Of Year Thou Mayst In Me Behold Sonnet 74: But Be Contented When That Fell Arrest Sonnet 75: So Are You To My Thoughts As Food To Life Sonnet 76: Why Is My Verse So Barren Of New Pride Sonnet 77: Thy Glass Will Show Thee How Thy Beauties Wear Sonnet 78: So Oft Have I Invoked Thee For My Muse Sonnet 79: Whilst I Alone Did Call Upon Thy Aid Sonnet 80: O! How I Faint When I Do Write Of You Sonnet 81: Or I Shall Live Your Epitaph To Make Sonnet 82: I Grant Thou Wert Not Married To My Muse Sonnet 83: I Never Saw That You Did Painting Need Sonnet 84: Who Is It That Says Most, Which Can Say More Sonnet 85: My Tongue-Tied Muse In Manners Holds Her Still Sonnet 86: Was It The Proud Sail Of His Great Verse Sonnet 87: Farewell! Thou Art Too Dear For My Possessing Sonnet 88: When Thou Shalt Be Dispos'd To Set Me Light Sonnet 89: Say That Thou Didst Forsake Me For Some Fault Sonnet 90: Then Hate Me When Thou Wilt; If Ever, Now Sonnet 91: Some Glory In Ttheir Birth, Some In Their Skill Sonnet 92: But Do Thy Worst To Steal Thyself Away Sonnet 93: So Shall I Live, Supposing Thou Art True Sonnet 94: They That Have Power To Hurt, And Will Do None Sonnet 95: How Sweet And Lovely Dost Thou Make The Shame Sonnet 96: Some Say Thy Fault Is Youth, Some Wantonness Sonnet 97: How Like A Winter Hath My Absence Been Sonnet 98: From You Have I Been Absent In The Spring Sonnet 99: The Forward Violet Thus Did I Chide Sonnet 100: Where Art Thou, Muse, That Thou Forget'st So Long Sonnet 101: O Truant Muse, What Shall Be Thy Amends Sonnet 102: My Love Is Strengthen'd, Though More Weak In Seeming Sonnet 103: Alack, What Poverty My Muse Brings Forth Sonnet 104: To Me, Fair Friend, You Never Can Be Old Sonnet 105: Let Not My Love Be Called Idolatry Sonnet 106: When In The Chronicle Of Wasted Time Sonnet 107: Not Mine Own Fears, Nor The Prophetic Soul Sonnet 108: What's In The Brain That Ink May Character Sonnet 109: O! Never Say That I Was False Of Heart Sonnet 110: Alas! 'Tis True, I Have Gone Here And There Sonnet 111: O For My Sake Do You With Fortune Chide Sonnet 112: Your Love And Pity Doth Th' Impression Fill Sonnet 113: Since I Left You, Mine Eye Is In My Mind Sonnet 114: Or Whether Doth My Mind, Being Crowned With You Sonnet 115: Those Lines That I Before Have Writ Do Lie Sonnet 116: Let Me Not To The Marriage Of True Minds Sonnet 117: Accuse Me Thus: That I Have Scanted All Sonnet 118: Like As To Make Our Appetites More Keen Sonnet 119: What Potions Have I Drunk Of Siren Tears Sonnet 120: That You Were Once Unkind Befriends Me Now Sonnet 121: 'Tis Better To Be Vile Than Vile Esteemed Sonnet 122: Thy Gift, Thy Tables, Are Within My Brain Sonnet 123: Thy Pyramids Built Up With Newer Might Sonnet 124: If My Dear Love Were But The Child Of State Sonnet 125: Were't Ought To Me I Bore The Canopy Sonnet 126: O Thou, My Lovely Boy, Who In Thy Pow'r Sonnet 127: In The Old Age Black Was Not Counted Fair Sonnet 128: How Oft When Thou, My Music, Music Play'st Sonnet 129: Th' Expense Of Spirit In A Waste Of Shame Sonnet 130: My Mistress' Eyes Are Nothing Like The Sun Sonnet 131: Thou Art As Tyrannous, So As Thou Art Sonnet 132: Thine Eyes I Love, And They, As Pitying Me Sonnet 133: Beshrew That Heart That Makes My Heart To Groan Sonnet 134: So Now I Have Confessed That He Is Thine Sonnet 135: Whoever Hath Her Wish, Thou Hast Thy Will Sonnet 136: If Thy Soul Check Thee That I Come So Near Sonnet 137: Thou Blind Fool, Love, What Dost Thou To Mine Eyes Sonnet 138: When My Love Swears That She Is Made Of Truth Sonnet 139: O! Call Not Me To Justify The Wrong Sonnet 140: Be Wise As Thou Art Cruel Sonnet 141: In Faith I Do Not Love You With Mine Eyes Sonnet 142: Love Is My Sin, And Thy Dear Virtue Hate Sonnet 143: Lo, As A Careful Housewife Runs To Catch Sonnet 144: Two Loves I Have Of Comfort And Despair Sonnet 145: Those Lips That Love's Own Hand Did Make Sonnet 146: Poor Soul, The Centre Of My Sinful Earth Sonnet 147: My Love Is As A Fever Longing Still Sonnet 148: O Me! What Eyes Hath Love Put In My Head Sonnet 149: Canst Thou, O Cruel! Say I Love Thee Not Sonnet 150: O! From What Power Hast Thou This Powerful Might Sonnet 151: Love Is Too Young To Know What Conscience Is Sonnet 152: In Loving Thee Thou Kow'st I Am Forsworn Sonnet 153: Cupid Laid By His Brand And Fell Asleep Sonnet 154: The Little Love-God Lying Once Asleep
This complete collection of 154 sonnets with explanations is available in an ebook to download now.

Famous Sonnets By Shakespeare

Shakespeare published 154 sonnets, and although they are all poems of the highest quality, there are some that have entered deeply into the consciousness of our culture to become the most famous Shakespeare sonnets. This handful of sonnets are quoted regularly by people at all levels of modern western life - sometimes without even realizing that they are quoting a line from Shakespeare.

In our humble opinion the 8 sonnets below represent Shakespeare's most famous words in the sonnet form:

Perhaps the most famous of all the sonnets is Sonnet 18, where Shakespeare addresses a young man to whom he is very close. It would be impossible to say whether Shakespeare was an arrogant man because we don't know what he was like. We also don't know whether he thought he was the 'great,' immortal writer that we regard him as today. However, after describing the young man's great beauty, he suggests that his poetry is 'eternal' and ends by stating that as long as there are people who can still read, the sonnet, and therefore the description of the young man's beauty, will still be there.

An interesting take on aging and love. The narrator describes the things that people agonize over as they descend into old age - all the regrets and the pain of reliving the mistakes he has made. It's full of agony but when he thinks about his beloved all the regrets and pain evaporate.

This is a poem about loss; the loss of a loved one. Shakespeare approaches it by expressing the contrast in the way we feel when the morning sun is shining brightly and when it's obscured by clouds, making the world a forlorn place. When he was loved by the beloved it was like the glorious morning, but now, having lost the beloved, it feels like an overcast and gloomy morning. He concludes that he doesn't condemn the beloved because human frailty, even among the best of humanity, is just as much a part of nature as the obscuring clouds are.

The narrator of Sonnet 73 is approaching death and thinking about how different it is from being young. It's like the branch of a tree where birds once sang but the birds have gone and the leaves have fallen, leaving only a few dry yellow leaves. It's like the twilight of a beautiful day, where there is only the black night ahead. It's like the glowing ashes of a fire that once roared. The things that one gave him life have destroyed his life. From that experience, he has learned that one has to love life as strongly as one can because it will end all too soon.

Here Shakespeare expresses the love one person has for another by showing how the beauty of the beloved doesn't change in the eyes of the lover. He shows time passing through the seasons and the years, everything changing. Except for the beauty of the beloved. He goes further by saying that no matter how long the world will endure, even though the beloved is long dead there will never be another as beautiful.

There are two striking definitions of love that we refer to again and again. Perhaps the most popular of the two is in Paul's letter to the Corinthians ( Corinthians 13: 4-8):

Love is patient, love is kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude.
Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends.

Paul's text is as well known as Sonnet 116 because it is used in most weddings as the young couple stands before the minister. But Shakespeare's sonnet employs an amazing array of poetic devices to convey the eternal nature of love. Shakespeare ends by staking everything on his observations about love by asserting that if he is wrong about it then no-one ever wrote anything and no-one ever loved.

Sonnet 129 is an interesting take on the imperative force of lust, but its ultimate shallowness. Everyone knows how shallow and guilt-producing lust is but very few men can avoid it. Shakespeare shows how lust brings out the very worst in people and the extremes they will go to. And then he explains the guilt that follows the satisfaction of one's lust.

Shakespeare is expressing the kind of love that has nothing to do with the beloved's looks. He satirizes the usual way of expressing love for a woman - praising her lips and her hair, the way she walks, and all the things that a young man may rave about when he thinks about his beloved. What he does is invert those things, assert that his beloved is ugly, ungainly, bad-smelling, etc, but ends by saying that his love for her is as 'rare' as that of any young man who writes flatteringly about the object of his love.

Interested in sonnets from other authors? Check out our sonnet examples from highly regarded poets who do things a little differently to Shakespeare's sonnets.

Publishing Shakespeare's Sonnets

A widely held belief contends that Shakespeare's sonnets were published without his consent. Had Shakespeare endorsed their publication, many believe he would have provided their printer with an authoritative text and a dedication. However, "Shakes-peares Sonnets" contains no dedication from the author and the text has many errors. Some critics also maintain that some sonnets are unfinished and that the sequence is too incoherent to have been intended for publication.

Exponents of this view have argued that someone whom Shakespeare trusted betrayed him by giving the poems to their first publisher, Thomas Thope, or that a thief, perhaps motivated by animosity or personal profit, seized the poets manuscript and sold it on. Some hold that the publication of the sonnets surely upset Shakespeare, whose poems dealt with scandalous forms of love; homoerotic and adulterous. Others variously insist that these subjects are more shocking to post-Victorian readers than to Jacobean ones; that, whilst the sonnets voice strong feelings, these were entirely appropriate to the form; and that emotions expressed in his sonnets do not mirror Shakespeare's own any more than those of dramatic characters in his plays.

Who Were The Shakespeare Sonnets Dedicated To?

Certain features of the sonnet form - not least the first-person narrative and themes of love - give the impression of offering direct access to their author's inner world. Since there has long been intense curiosity about the 'youth' addressed in the sonnets, clues to his identity have also been extracted with no little strain from the frontispiece of the first edition. The author of this dedication, T.T, was Thomas Thorpe, the publisher. But the identity of the "begetter" of the sonnets, "Mr W. H." remains a mystery. Some think this is a misprint for "Mr W. S." or "Mr W. Sh.", as in William Shakespeare. Others suspect that the "begetter" refers to the scoundrel who may have conveyed the poems to Thorpe against Shakespeare's wishes. But the most widely held assumption is that the "beggetter" must be the person who inspired the "ensuing sonnets", the majority of which address a young man.

Working from the scant evidence offered by the initials W. H., literary detectives have proposed many candidates. One is Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, to whom Shakespeare dedicated Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece in the mid-1590s. Another is William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, whose name figures among those to whom the First Folio was dedicated in 1623. A third candidate is Sir William Hervey, stepfather of the Earl of Southampton, who may have commissioned lyrics urging the young man to marry and produce an heir - the first 17 sonnets of the sequence treat this theme. Of these candidates, however, two were earls and one was a gentleman, referred to as "Sir". None would have been called "Mr" save by error or to suggest intimacy. In the end, these probing enigmas of Shakespeare's sonnets are forced to speculate; information is poor, scarce and inconclusive.

The numbers behind the sonnets

Who knew that Shakespeare's sonnets and mathematics were so linked?

In the super-interesting video below, Professor Roger Bowley talks about the tight constraints - and shape - that numbers gave to Shakespeare's sonnets.

What's your take on the Shakespeare sonnets listed above? Let us know by joining in the conversation in the comments section below!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Shakespeare Sonnets: All 154 Sonnets With Explanations✔️

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets. Read all Shakespeare sonnets here, along with an explanation of each, intended to offer an easy read-through to aid understanding

# data[].attributes.headline
Цитата з твору "Гамлет"

# data[].attributes.subject
Цитата з твору "Гамлет"

# data[].attributes.headline
Вирази, які ввів та популяризував Шекспір

# data[].attributes.subject
Вирази, які ввів та популяризував Шекспір

# data[].attributes.headline
Один із відомих виразів Шекспіра

# data[].attributes.subject
Один із відомих виразів Шекспіра

# data[].attributes.headline
Театр "Глобус"

# data[].attributes.subject
Театр "Глобус"

# data[].attributes.headline
Відома екранізація трагедії "Ромео і Джульєтта"

# data[].attributes.subject
Відома екранізація трагедії "Ромео і Джульєтта"

# data[].attributes.headline
Портрет Шекспіра

# data[].attributes.subject
Портрет Шекспіра

# data[].attributes.headline
Основні відомості про Вільяма Шекспіра

# data[].attributes.subject
Основні відомості про Вільяма Шекспіра

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Edward Hawkins recites William Shakespeare's Sonnet 66 | Poems

# data[].attributes.headline
Виразне читання сонетів

# data[].attributes.subject
Виразне читання сонетів

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
Довідник цікавих фактів та корисних знань

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Вільям Шекспір. Сонет 66, 130, 116 українською слухати (аудіо)

# data[].attributes.headline
Вільям Шекспір: короткий життєпис

# data[].attributes.subject
Вільям Шекспір: короткий життєпис

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
Тетяна Гриндула

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Вільям Шекспір. Короткий життєпис митця.

# data[].attributes.headline
Вільям Шекспір: основи.

# data[].attributes.subject
Вільям Шекспір: основи.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
cowo guru - середовище мислення та дії

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Шекспір: основи. Євгеній Стасіневич

# data[].attributes.headline
Відео. Вільям Шекспір

# data[].attributes.subject
Відео. Вільям Шекспір

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
Валентин Кошелевський

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Шекспір, Вільям

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Творчість Вільяма Шекспіра

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Пройди тестування за життям та творчістю Вільяма Шекспіра Кількість запитань - 10 Максимальна кількість балів - 25 Максимальна оцінка - 12 Бажаю успіху!

# data[].attributes.headline
Інтелектуальна карта

# data[].attributes.subject
Інтелектуальна карта

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
Аліна Козловець

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Shakespeare - Мыслительная карта

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Нововведення, Відомі цитати, Сонети, Культові герої, Літературна творчість, Театральна діяльність, Біографія, Bedroom – спальня (утворене від bed – ліжко та…

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Шекспірівська мова. “To be or not to be...”

# data[].attributes.headline
Текстовий документ

# data[].attributes.subject
Текстовий документ

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Теоретичні відомості

# data[].attributes.headline
Посилання друк

# data[].attributes.subject
Посилання друк

# data[].attributes.headline
Посилання веб

# data[].attributes.subject
Посилання веб

# data[].attributes.headline
План проекту

# data[].attributes.subject
План проекту