A summary of Shakespeare’s 41st sonnet As opening lines go, ‘Those pretty wrongs that liberty commits’ is not up there with some of the opening lines that we’ve had earlier on in Shakespeare’s Sonnets, such as the rightly celebrated opening lines to Sonnet 18 and Sonnet 20. Nevertheless, this poem […]
A summary of Shakespeare’s 38th sonnet We continue our exploration and analysis of Shakespeare’s sonnets this week with, predictably enough after Sonnet 37 last week, Sonnet 38. This is another poem about the Bard’s poetic inspiration, and explores the Fair Youth’s role as Shakespeare’s ‘muse’. How can my Muse want […]
A summary of Shakespeare’s 37th sonnet Sonnet 37 is not a classic Shakespeare sonnet. But it does contain some interesting aspects which careful analysis can help us to elucidate. The poem is an extended riff on the idea of Shakespeare as an old, lame, decrepit figure, contrasted with the Fair […]
A summary of Shakespeare’s 36th sonnet ‘Let me confess that we two must be twain.’ Things are beginning to fall apart here, and the honeymoon period between Shakespeare and the Fair Youth gives way to Sonnet 36, the first of what are sometimes called the ‘separation sonnets’. Analysing his relationship […]
A reading of Shakespeare’s sonnet Sonnet 35 develops a theme, or strand, within the Sonnets which Shakespeare had begun in Sonnet 33, and then elaborated on in the previous sonnet. In this sonnet, we find out the reason the Fair Youth has cooled in his affection towards Shakespeare: his ‘trespass’ […]