SHAKESPERE’S SONNETS

Shakespeare wrote his 154 sonnets between 1592 and 1598, but they were published only in 1609.

Considering the form, he used the Elizabethan pattern, which is also called Shakespearean model. It consists of 14 lines organized into three quatrains and a rhyming couplet. The rhyme scheme is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. The quatrains present different aspects of the same problem, while the couplet represents a conclusion and tries to give a solution to the problem.

Shakespeare’s sonnets are also arranged into two different section: the first one includes sonnets between 1 and 126 and it is addressed to the Fair Youth (a young man), while the second one includes the other ones and it is addressed to the dark lady (a woman).

One of the most relevant elements on Shakespearean sonnets are the themes. Indeed, he introduces a revolutionary aspect (at that time), the introspection. Therefore, he investigates the human being’s nature.

First of all, he tells about feelings and different features of love. The first 17 poems represent a collection called “the procreational sonnets” or “the marriage collection”, because the speaking voice encourages the Fair Youth to marry and have children in order to make his beauty immortal. The second section, addressed to the dark lady, instead, is more sexual. The poet analyses the carnal love and lust. In particular, he underlines the contrast between some feelings: love - hate, jealousy - contempt.  

Another frequent theme is time, considered an enemy of love (in contrast with the other main theme), because it destroys beauty and brings life to death. In this case, poetry has the power to counteract the action of time. Indeed, lines and written words last in time, as ancients said “verba volant, scripta manent”.

What makes Shakespeare’s sonnets innovative is that his first poems are addressed to a man, at that time a man attracted by another man was unusual. Then, the character of the dark lady id different from the ideal, angelic woman of courtly poems. And finally, Shakespeare writes about sexual love and desire, creating a more complex portrayal of human love, in contrast with the traditional platonic love.

The poet is able to convey all the elements thanks to the use of symbols and imagines, that can suppose different meaning according to the situation. To tell the truth, he usually uses figures of speech connected with nature and time, for example the stars, the sun, the season.