Jump to content

Shakespeare's sonnets

From British Culture

"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.

Structure and style

Sonnets 1-17: procreation sonnets

Sonnets 1-126: Fair Youth sequence

procreation

Sonnets 127-154: Dark Lady sequence

Themes and motifs