Shakespeare’s Sonnets 1 – 17
The Procreation Sonnets, 1 – 17 Sonnet 1 Summary: the poet, speaking on behalf of others (“we desire increase”), encourages his friend to see procreation as a duty, as well as a way of defeating time. But his friend is evidently too self-contained, and as such is wasting his natural genetic gifts. The world is […]
Shakespeare’s Sonnets 18 – 32
Sonnets 18 – 32 Sonnet 18 Summary: Summer is short and all beautiful things live brief lives. But the “fair youth” is different from nature: his beauty is eternal and death will never claim it, since this poem immortalises this beauty and gives it life as long as there are people alive to read the […]
Shakespeare’s Sonnets 33 – 48
Sonnets 33 – 48 Sonnet 33 Summary: the poet has experienced ecstatic fulfilment in the past (he reports in the opening quatrain), but now the sun has disappeared and gloomier days are upon him. Even so, he does not blame the object of his affections that he has been let down and betrayed. Note: An […]
Shakespeare’s Sonnets 64 – 77
Sonnets 64 – 77 Sonnet 64 Summary: change and loss are inevitable, and there are many examples – from human monuments to the natural world, from individual humans to the state, the evidence of “Ruin” is pervasive, and it leads to the conclusion that all possession is time-limited and loss unavoidable. Note: the poem comprises […]
Twelfth Night (1601)
Introduction Shakespearean Theatre was male through and through. True, women were part of the audience, and female characters appeared on stage. But there the role of women ended. Yet Shakespeare’s plays are full of dynamic female characters. From Portia to Lady Macbeth, from “Antony and Cleopatra” to “The Merry Wives of Windsor”, his plays are […]
The Two Noble Kinsmen (1613-14)
Introduction “The Two Noble Kinsmen” was Shakespeare’s last play, co-written with John Fletcher around three years before his death in 1616. It takes its plot from Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Knight’s Tale”, written around two centuries earlier. It’s thought that an earlier version of the story, author unknown, may have influenced Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” […]