Articles related to "Other Shakespeare Articles"

Sonnets 108 and 126 should possibly be grouped with the "marriage poems" 1-17, in which the speaker pleads with a young man to marry and produce lovely children.

Addressing his sonnet, the poet/speaker strives to analyze, through dramatization, the depth of his genuine affection for his art.

The speaker in sonnet 118 confesses to his Muse that he has learned that the use of artificial stimuli to retain his ardor for writing is not effective.

In sonnet 119, the speaker again examines and dramatizes his "wretched errors," and they are errors that his "heart committed" but from which learns a valuable lesson.

In sonnet 120, the speaker again confronts the Muse for mistreating him, but he has found a way to employ that maltreatment for the better good, as he always does.

In sonnet 121, the speaker soliloquizes about the damage caused by gossiping critics who attempt to destroy what they do no understand.

In sonnet 122, the speaker addresses the Giver of his gift of poetry, dramatizing the ability of his memory to retain the love and inspiration of the Divine Giver.

The speaker in sonnet 123 again accosts his adversary, Time, dramatizing his faith that his art can outpace Time's scythe: Time moves in haste; art evolves with intent.

Sonnet 128 is purely for fun; the speaker plies his clever creativity as he dramatizes his feigned jealousy of the keyboard on which his lady is playing music for him.

Even as he defends her physical beauty, the beguiled speaker in sonnet 131 introduces the notion of the ugly "deeds" of which the dark lady persona proves capable.

In sonnet 132, the speaker dramatizes the dark lady's "pretty ruth," likening her "mourning" eyes to the sun in the morning and then in the evening.

In sonnet 133, the speaker bemoans the fact that the cruel lady has not only captured his heart but also his Muse, that is, his other self who creates his poems.

The speaker taunts the "dark lady" demeaning her looks, decrying her ability to attract him physically, yet insisting that he foolishly remains in her clutches.

This sonnet may be the weakest of the entire set of 154. The speaker is reaching here, striving to make clever a rather mundane little scenario that falls flat.

The speaker in sonnet 146 addresses his soul (his true self), asking it why it bothers to continue to bedeck an aging body, when the soul is so much more important.

In sonnet 124, the speaker dramatizes the nature of his "dear love," the motivating soul-power that guides his craftsmanship and keeps his creative juices flowing.

In sonnet 139, again addressing the "dark lady," the speaker bemoans and condemns her infidelity, as the tension grows between his desire and his intelligence.

The speaker in sonnet 142 employs financial and legal metaphors to denounce the sins of the dark lady, as he accounts for his own sins against his soul.

The speaker examines and condemns his unhealthy attachment to the dark lady, bemoaning his loss of reason, the result of allowing his lower nature to rule his conscience.

The sonneteer has come to end of his ability to explore new themes in his sonnet sequence: he is now rehashing the disparity between what he sees and what is there.

The speaker of the "dark lady" sonnets has become addicted to this form of poetic rhetoric, employing it often, posing four questions in the quatrains of sonnet 150.

In sonnet 103, the speaker addresses his sonnet, expressing its beauty and worth above the contributions of both his talent and his muse.

The speaker in sonnet 105 creates an artist's holy trinity of "fair, kind, and true," a reflection of his beloved subjects of beauty, love, and truth.

Addressing the sonnet, the speaker/poet in Shakespeare sonnet 106 celebrates the poem's ability to skillfully portray beauty that outshines that of the ancients

Addressing his Muse, the speaker in sonnet 110 confesses that he has behaved in ways that he now detests and rejects, and he affirms his dedication to truth and love.

The speaker's obsession with creating poetry in the presence of his divine Muse is given a thorough examination, as he compares his creative mind and his physical eye.

Addressing his Muse in a confrontational tone in sonnet 117, the speaker, half in jest, begs forgiveness for his trespasses of neglect and carousing with lesser minds.

As with sonnet 135, the speaker continues his word play by punning his pseudonymic nickname, Will, as he dramatizes his lust for the alluring dark lady.

In an uproariously funny drama, the speaker likens himself to a naughty baby who chases and cries for his mother after she speeds off to fetch a fleeing chicken.

In sonnet 149, the speaker poses six questions to the "dark lady," trying still to establish her reason for the constant cruelty she metes out to him who adores her so.

Addressing his poem in sonnet 104, the poet/speaker declares the immortality and agelessness of the art that he creates, employing the seasons to dramatize his claim.

Addressing his sonnet, the poet/speaker again affirms that despite the ravages of time and wrong thinking that may obliterate and denigrate art, his sonnet will live on.

Sonnet 111 offers a bit of information that points to the Earl of Oxford, Edward de Vere, as the true author of the Shakespearean oeuvre.

In sonnet 112, the speaker compares his private relationship with his Muse to his relationship with the broad society, as he praises the advantages of his private life.

Continuing his thought from sonnet 113, the speaker in sonnet 114 again dramatizes an aspect of this struggle between the mind and the senses to determine the genuine.

Sonnet 116 dramatizes the nature of love, not ordinary affection but abiding love that he defines as the "marriage of true minds" that cannot be destroyed by fickle time.

Again addressing his Muse, the speaker in sonnet 125 concludes that despite his dedication to poetry creation, finally all he has to give his Muse is his own soul.

Sonnet 126 is a problem; it is not technically a sonnet. It has only 12 lines, six rimed couplets. It is located between the "young man" and the "dark lady" sonnets.

Sonnet 127 begins the "Dark Lady" series of the Shakespeare sonnets.

Sonnet 129 dramatizes the pit of promiscuity, where copulation engaged in solely out of lust engenders all manner of evil consequences.

The speaker in Sonnet 130 challenges the Petrarchan tradition of putting the beloved upon a pedestal to show the lover's affection.

The speaker in sonnet 134 descends into a vulgar discussion, lamenting the sexual attraction he suffers because of the lustful lady.

Sonnets 135 and 136 both focus intensely on punning the word, "Will." The poet, Edward de Vere, uses the nickname "Will" from his pseudonym, William Shakespeare.

Sonnet 137 dramatizes the speaker's musing, primarily through questions, about the oft-disjointed consequences of what the eye sees and what the heart believes.

The speaker suffers from his conscious denial: he knows the "dark lady" is not true to him, but his infatuation with her causes him to ask her to feign fidelity.

In sonnet 144, the speaker examines his ambiguity: he prefers to be guided by his "better angel" who is "right fair," but he is tempted too often by a "worser spirit."

The speaker studies the nature of "conscience" and "lust" and dramatizes the affect of lust on his other self that rises and falls through conscienceless motivation.

Sonnet 152 is the final sonnet that directly addresses the "dark lady"; it is quite fitting that it closes with the same complaint he has long issued against the woman.

Paraphrasing sonnet 153, sonnet 154 pairs up with its predecessor to bring down the curtain on this drama of unfulfilled love ("lust") between speaker and mistress.

Shakespeare sonnet 18 begins the thematic group in which the speaker/poet muses on his writing talent, often addressing his Muse, his ability, and even his poems.