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Take your pick of Shakespeare’s sonnets below, along with a modern English interpretation of each one aid understanding. Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets published in his ‘quarto’ in 1609, covering themes such as the passage of time, mortality, love, beauty, infidelity, and jealousy.
The term sonnet refers to a fixed verse poetic form, traditionally consisting of fourteen lines adhering to a set rhyming scheme. [1] . It derives from the Italian word sonetto (lit. 'little song', from the Latin word sonus, lit. 'sound').
Below is a summary of the different types of sonnets, with brief explanations of their particular forms and how each of them arose.
In addition, literary sonnets are a form for poets to express thoughts and emotions, whether addressing themes of love, nature, God, death, or suffering. Though sonnets generally have defined form, meter, and rhyme, this poetic form has evolved to embrace some exceptions in terms of traditional patterns.
sonnet, fixed verse form of Italian origin consisting of 14 lines that are typically five-foot iambics rhyming according to a prescribed scheme. The sonnet is unique among poetic forms in Western literature in that it has retained its appeal for major poets for five centuries.
Read and download Shakespeare's Sonnets for free. Learn about the Sonnets, find summaries, and discover more Folger resources.
All the sonnets are provided here, with descriptive commentary attached to each one, giving explanations of difficult and unfamiliar words and phrases, and with a full analysis of any special problems of interpretation which arise. Sonnets by other Elizabethan poets are also included, Spenser, Sidney, Drayton and a few other minor authors.
Literally a “little song,” the sonnet traditionally reflects upon a single sentiment, with a clarification or “turn” of thought in its concluding lines. There are many different types of sonnets.
Few collections of poems—indeed, few literary works in general—intrigue, challenge, tantalize, and reward as do Shakespeare's Sonnets. Almost all of them love poems, the Sonnets philosophize, celebrate, attack, plead, and express pain, longing, and despair, all in a tone of…
Traditionally, the sonnet is a fourteen-line poem written in iambic pentameter, employing one of several rhyme schemes, and adhering to a tightly structured thematic organization. The name is taken from the Italian sonetto, which means “a little sound or song.” Discover more poetic terms. Types of Sonnets.