Jul 24, 2008

Shakespeare's Work | The Sonnets

Shakespeare's Sonnets are among the most highly valued poems in English. They are not only read but memorized; they are not only thought about but reflected on; they are not only admired but cherished. Even if they were not valued for their literary merit, they would still be of central importance, for there is one property that they alone possess: they are the only works of Shakespeare written in the first person. Only in the Sonnets does Shakespeare appear to be speaking in his own voice.

Shakespeare's two other major nondramatic works, Venus and Adonis and The Rape of...