By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
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’ or transgression is a ‘sensual fault’, suggesting that the Fair Youth has had sex with another man (or a woman). Because it opens up a new aspect of the relationship outlined in the Sonnets as a whole, Sonnet 35 is worth analysing a little here.