Shakespeare's sonnets: Difference between revisions
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"Shakespeare's sonnets" are a collection of 154 sonnets by William Shakespeare first published in 1609. The collection ends with the narrative poem "A Lover's Complaint". | "Shakespeare's sonnets" are a collection of 154 sonnets by William Shakespeare first published in 1609. The collection ends with the narrative poem "A Lover's Complaint". While the first 17 sonnets of the collection are dealing with the topic of procreation and are addressed to a young man, as well as sonnets 18-126 dealing with the writer's love to the young man, the last sequence (sonnets 127-154) is dedicated to the Dark Lady. | ||
While the first 17 sonnets of the collection are dealing with the topic of procreation and are addressed to a young man | Whereas the traditional concepts of Elizabethan (love) sonnets dealt with courtly love, Shakespeare changed some fundamental aspects such as addressing a young man and his beauty as well as contradicting the Petrarcan sonnet tradition with the sexually oriented sonnets about the Dark Lady. | ||
The sonnet collection is considered to be the end of a long sonnet tradition, particularly regarding the English and Elizabethan love sonnet. | |||
== Structure and style == | == Structure and style == | ||
Revision as of 15:39, 10 December 2012
"Shakespeare's sonnets" are a collection of 154 sonnets by William Shakespeare first published in 1609. The collection ends with the narrative poem "A Lover's Complaint". While the first 17 sonnets of the collection are dealing with the topic of procreation and are addressed to a young man, as well as sonnets 18-126 dealing with the writer's love to the young man, the last sequence (sonnets 127-154) is dedicated to the Dark Lady. Whereas the traditional concepts of Elizabethan (love) sonnets dealt with courtly love, Shakespeare changed some fundamental aspects such as addressing a young man and his beauty as well as contradicting the Petrarcan sonnet tradition with the sexually oriented sonnets about the Dark Lady. The sonnet collection is considered to be the end of a long sonnet tradition, particularly regarding the English and Elizabethan love sonnet.