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Sonnets | Who Is the "Young Man" addressed in the sonnets?
The first 126 of Shakespeare's collected 154 sonnets are addressed to a young man; and based on the premise that the poet had an actual individual in mind when he wrote them, several efforts have been made to determine the young man's identity. The main clue in this search is that the first edition of Shakespeare's sonnets is dedicated to a "Mr. W. H." With this in mind, some literary historians have identified the young man as William Herbert, the Earl of Pembroke. Others have inverted the order of the dedication's initials and claimed that the young man was Henry Wriothesley, the...
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- Sonnets: Introduction
- Sonnets: Narrative
- Sonnets: Text of the Sonnets
- Sonnets: Background
- Sonnets: Characters
- Sonnets: Themes
- Sonnets: Exemplary Sonnets
- Sonnets: Critical Assessment
- Sonnets: Character Analysis
- Sonnets: Principal Topics
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Sonnets: 20 Sonnets Analyzed
- Sonnet 1—From fairest creatures we desire increase
- Sonnet 6—Then let not winter's ragged hand deface
- Sonnet 18—Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
- Sonnet 19—Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws
- Sonnet 29—When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes
- Sonnet 30—When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
- Sonnet 35—No more be grieved at that which thou hast done
- Sonnet 38—How can my muse want subject to invent
- Sonnet 55—Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
- Sonnet 60—Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore
- Sonnet 66—Tired with all these, for restful death I cry
- Sonnet 73—That time of year thou mayst in me behold
- Sonnet 76—Why is my verse so barren of new pride
- Sonnet 79—Whilst I alone did call upon thy aid
- Sonnet 91—Some glory in their birth, some in their skill
- Sonnet 106—When in the chronicle of wasted time
- Sonnet 116—Let me not to the marriage of true minds
- Sonnet 130—My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun
- Sonnet 138—When my love swears that she is made of truth
- Sonnet 147—My love is as a fever longing still
- Sonnets: Essays
- Sonnets: Criticism
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Sonnets: FAQs
- Why did Shakespeare use the sonnet cycle form?
- Who Is the "Young Man" addressed in the sonnets?
- Who Is the "Dark Lady" addressed in the sonnets?
- Do any of the sonnets depart from the standard Shakespearean sonnet form?
- What are the principal themes of the sonnets?
- Why do so many of the sonnets begin with a question?
- Sonnets: Bibliography and Further Reading
- Sonnets: Pictures
- Copyright
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