![]() ![]() In a typical sonnet, the beloved would be romanticized, her beauty transcending the sullied world the writer and readers inhabit. First, Shakespeare challenged Petrarch’s tendency to idealize the object of his poems instead, he often ironized his subjects, sometimes seemingly mocking the person supposedly being honored by the poem, as in Sonnet 130. In the 16th century, the sonnet became popular in England, but Shakespeare’s productions subverted typical expectations even further. Petrarch, for example, both elevated the form and extended its reach. ![]() And that’s a shame because the combination of Shakespeare’s linguistic dexterity and his emotional insights with the precise and well-structured sonnet form make such an examination eminently worthwhile.ĭeveloped in the 13th century, the sonnet was originally an Italian form, consisting of fourteen strictly regulated lines, with both rhythm and rhyme adhering to rigid patterns however, this traditional structure and rhyme scheme, later poets realized, could easily be adapted to suit the specific artist’s purposes. Often overlooked in such critical studies, however, is much concern with the aesthetic and thematic qualities of the poems themselves. Given that Shakespeare has left little personal historical record, particularly in light of his outsized influence on the literary world, it’s understandable that the details of his poems would evoke speculation: just who is the “dark lady” of sonnets 127-152 and who is this “young man” named in the first 126? What do these poems, and especially their subjects, tell us of Shakespeare’s loves and losses, his desires and struggles? Although there’s little outside historical record to confirm or disprove interpretive conclusions on these scores, the conjecture is almost too delectable to pass up. While they were not as commercially successful as his longer narrative poems, these sonnets have provided future generations of critics plenty of fodder for better understanding the literary sensibilities and, especially, the biographical background of this often-enigmatic author. In an overview of the writer’s work, Poetry Foundation identifies this publication as Shakespeare’s point of liberation from the demands of patronage he was finally able to write as self-discovery, not primarily for financial survival. With these publications, Shakespeare sought out patronage, the traditional arrangement whereby an artist was supported financially by a wealthy benefactor.Īlongside these lengthy poems, Shakespeare was writing sonnets, a popular pastime for those with creative sensibilities in Elizabethan England, and in 1609, a collection of 154 individual Shakespearean sonnets was published by Thomas Thorpe. In this pursuit, he wrote two long narrative poems: Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. In the last decade of the 16th century, when the theaters were closed to prevent the spread of the plague, Shakespeare explored other avenues for making a living. In fact, it is in his poetry that Shakespeare’s literary (and social) aspirations are most clearly revealed. ![]() Yet before Shakespeare made his name as playwright, he produced poetry, lots and lots of poetry. ![]() Shakespeare made them feel the force of his stories, not merely watch the plot play out. In so doing, Dryden argued, he towered over even the greatest of Renaissance playwrights, having “the largest and most comprehensive soul” with a remarkable ability to draw audiences in emotionally. The great Neoclassicist John Dryden, in recognizing Shakespeare’s genius, suggested that his lack of formal training in writing underscored his greatness since, despite that, he excelled at elevating any given subject matter. Shakespeare’s name is nearly synonymous with literature, both because of the volume of creative works he produced and the thematic and stylistic intricacies of those works. Few literary figures are as revered (and just as often avoided) as William Shakespeare (1564-1616). ![]()
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