Shakespeare's Sonnets
()
About this ebook
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) is arguably the most famous playwright to ever live. Born in England, he attended grammar school but did not study at a university. In the 1590s, Shakespeare worked as partner and performer at the London-based acting company, the King’s Men. His earliest plays were Henry VI and Richard III, both based on the historical figures. During his career, Shakespeare produced nearly 40 plays that reached multiple countries and cultures. Some of his most notable titles include Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar. His acclaimed catalog earned him the title of the world’s greatest dramatist.
Read more from William Shakespeare
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: All 214 Plays, Sonnets, Poems & Apocryphal Plays (Including the Biography of the Author): Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Othello, The Tempest, King Lear, The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Richard III, Antony and Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, The Comedy of Errors… Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Shakespeare Quotes Ultimate Collection - The Wit and Wisdom of William Shakespeare Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Christmas Library: 250+ Essential Christmas Novels, Poems, Carols, Short Stories...by 100+ Authors Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Romeo & Juliet & Vampires Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Shakespeare in Autumn (Seasons Edition -- Fall): Select Plays and the Complete Sonnets Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShakespeare's First Folio Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Shakespeare's Love Sonnets Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Shakespeare's Sonnets
Related ebooks
Shakespeare’s Sonnets Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSonnets to a Young Man Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Sonnets Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTwo Gentlemen of Verona Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVenus And Adonis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Sonnets by William Shakespeare (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShakespeare's Sonnets Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5William Shakespeare - A Tribute in Verse Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShakespeare's Cats: The Complete Sonnets for the Literary Cat Lover Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Merchant of Venice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOthello Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Comedy of Errors Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAll's Well That Ends Well Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Midsummer Night's Dream Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Midsummer Night’s Dream Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings3 by Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet and Richard III Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPericles Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Poetry Of Charlotte Smith: "If conquest does not bind posterity, so neither can compact bind it." Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCymbeline Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCoriolanus Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Maid's Revenge: "Death calls ye to the crowd of common men" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsElizabethan Sonnet Cycles: Idea, Fidesa and Chloris Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Taming of the Shrew Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Poetry Hour - Volume 19 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTwelfth Night Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Winter's Tale Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Winter's Tale Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNarcissus: or, The Self-Lover Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsComplete Sonnets Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tempest Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Literary Criticism For You
Man's Search for Meaning: by Viktor E. Frankl | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5As I Lay Dying Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Reader’s Companion to J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/512 Rules For Life: by Jordan Peterson | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 48 Laws of Power: by Robert Greene | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Verity: by Colleen Hoover | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Seduction: by Robert Greene | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Killers of the Flower Moon: by David Grann | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Great Alone: by Kristin Hannah | Conversation Starters Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.by Brené Brown | Conversation Starters Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain | Conversation Starters Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Letters to a Young Poet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Oscar Wilde: The Unrepentant Years Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 1]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Circe: by Madeline Miller | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Power of Habit: by Charles Duhigg | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5SUMMARY Of The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in Healthy Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lincoln Lawyer: A Mysterious Profile Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Book of Virtues Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Just Kids: A National Book Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Shakespeare's Sonnets
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Shakespeare's Sonnets - William Shakespeare
Shakespeare’s Sonnets
William Shakespeare
Biography of Shakespeare
Since William Shakespeare lived more than 400 years ago, and many records from that time are lost or never existed in the first place, we don't know everything about his life. For example, we know that he was baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon, 100 miles northwest of London, on April 26, 1564. But we don't know his exact birthdate, which must have been a few days earlier.
We do know that Shakespeare's life revolved around two locations: Stratford and London. He grew up, had a family, and bought property in Stratford, but he worked in London, the center of English theater. As an actor, a playwright, and a partner in a leading acting company, he became both prosperous and well-known. Even without knowing everything about his life, fans of Shakespeare have imagined and reimagined him according to their own tastes, just as we see with the 19th-century portrait of Shakespeare wooing his wife at the top of this page.
William Shakespeare was probably born on about April 23, 1564, the date that is traditionally given for his birth. He was John and Mary Shakespeare's oldest surviving child; their first two children, both girls, did not live beyond infancy. Growing up as the big brother of the family, William had three younger brothers, Gilbert, Richard, and Edmund, and two younger sisters: Anne, who died at seven, and Joan.
Their father, John Shakespeare, was a leatherworker who specialized in the soft white leather used for gloves and similar items. A prosperous businessman, he married Mary Arden, of the prominent Arden family. John rose through local offices in Stratford, becoming an alderman and eventually, when William was five, the town bailiff—much like a mayor. Not long after that, however, John Shakespeare stepped back from public life; we don't know why.
Shakespeare, as the son of a leading Stratford citizen, almost certainly attended Stratford's grammar school. Like all such schools, its curriculum consisted of an intense emphasis on the Latin classics, including memorization, writing, and acting classic Latin plays. Shakespeare most likely attended until about age 15.
For several years after Judith and Hamnet's arrival in 1585, nothing is known for certain of Shakespeare's activities: how he earned a living, when he moved from Stratford, or how he got his start in the theater.
Following this gap in the record, the first definite mention of Shakespeare is in 1592 as an established London actor and playwright, mocked by a contemporary as a Shake-scene.
The same writer alludes to one of Shakespeare's earliest history plays, Henry VI, Part 3, which must already have been performed. The next year, in 1593, Shakespeare published a long poem, Venus and Adonis. The first quarto editions of his early plays appeared in 1594. For more than two decades, Shakespeare had multiple roles in the London theater as an actor, playwright, and, in time, a business partner in a major acting company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men (renamed the King's Men in 1603). Over the years, he became steadily more famous in the London theater world; his name, which was not even listed on the first quartos of his plays, became a regular feature—clearly a selling point—on later title pages.
Shakespeare prospered financially from his partnership in the Lord Chamberlain's Men (later the King's Men), as well as from his writing and acting. He invested much of his wealth in real-estate purchases in Stratford and bought the second-largest house in town, New Place, in 1597.
Among the last plays that Shakespeare worked on was The Two Noble Kinsmen, which he wrote with a frequent collaborator, John Fletcher, most likely in 1613. He died on April 23, 1616—the traditional date of his birthday, though his precise birthdate is unknown. We also do not know the cause of his death. His brother-in-law had died a week earlier, which could imply infectious disease, but Shakespeare's health may have had a longer decline.
The memorial bust of Shakespeare at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford is considered one of two authentic likenesses, because it was approved by people who knew him. (The bust in the Folger's Paster Reading Room, shown at left, is a copy of this statue.) The other such likeness is the engraving by Martin Droeshout in the 1623 First Folio edition of Shakespeare's plays, produced seven years after his death by his friends and colleagues from the King's Men.
I
From fairest creatures we desire increase,
That thereby beauty's rose might never die,
But as the riper should by time decease,
His tender heir might bear his memory:
But thou contracted to thine own bright eyes,
Feed'st thy light's flame with self-substantial fuel,
Making a famine where abundance lies,
Thy self thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel:
Thou that art now the world's fresh ornament,
And only herald to the gaudy spring,
Within thine own bud buriest thy content,
And tender churl mak'st waste in niggarding:
Pity the world, or else this glutton be,
To eat the world's due, by the grave and thee.
II
When forty winters shall besiege thy brow,
And dig deep trenches in thy beauty's field,
Thy youth's proud livery so gazed on now,
Will be a tatter'd weed of small worth held:
Then being asked, where all thy beauty lies,
Where all the treasure of thy lusty days;
To say, within thine own deep sunken eyes,
Were an all-eating shame, and thriftless praise.
How much more praise deserv'd thy