Shakespeare's sonnets

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, and sonnets 18-126 are 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.

Structure and style

Shakespeare makes use of Surrey's sonnet form with an abab cdcd efef gg rhyme scheme. Its metrical structure is iambic pentameter.

The sonnets usually consist of two quartrains which emerge in a thematical octave, followed by a cesura in thought, a quartrain and a final rhyming couplet. Exceptions are sonnets 126 (which consists of rhyming couplets) and 145 (which makes use of 4 feet in one line instead of 5). The couplet is often set against the previous thoughts or else it is used for emphasis - it serves as a new form bringing reversal, new ideas or a conclusion.

Shakespeare highly uses metaphors, symbols and conceits, and besides symbols of nature and love makes use of vocabulary of law, finances, medicine and so on.