William Shakespeare Sonnets

Sonnets

The Sonnets deal with love, beauty, politics, and mortality, and were written over a period of several years. All but two first appeared in a 1609 collection. Number 138 ("When my love swears that she is made of truth"), and number 144 ("Two loves have I, of comfort and despair"), had previously been published in 1599 (in a miscellany, "The Passionate Pilgrim").

There is a dedication at the beginning of the text to a certain "Mr. W.H." who is described as "the onlie begetter" of the poems by the publisher Thomas Thorpe. It is not known who this man was, or the nature of his relationship to Shakespeare or to the publisher. The dedication also refers to the poet with the equally mysterious phrase "Ever-Living" which is a term normally applied to the deceased.

Although the works were written by William Shakespeare, it is not known if the publisher used an authorized manuscript from him, or an unauthorized copy. The author's name is hyphenated on the title page and on the top of every other page in the book and these, together with other anomalies, have fueled debate around the true authorship.

The first 17 sonnets are written to a young man, urging him to marry and have children, thereby passing down his beauty to the next generation. These are called the procreation sonnets. Numbers 18-126, however, are addressed to a young man expressing the poet's love for him.

Sonnets 127-152 are written to the poet's mistress expressing his love for her.

The final thirty sonnets are written about a number of issues, such as the young man's infidelity with the poet's mistress, self-resolution to control his lust, beleaguered criticism of the world, and other topics.