Shakespeare's Sonnets
Shakespeare turned the 14-line sonnet into a vehicle for exploring time, desire, beauty, and mortality with more psychological complexity than anyone before or since.
“Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate.”
Why It Matters
Shakespeare turned the 14-line sonnet into a vehicle for exploring time, desire, beauty, and mortality with more psychological complexity than anyone before or since. The sequence's ambiguity — the mysterious "Fair Youth," the "Dark Lady," the rival poet — has generated centuries of debate. These poems permanently expanded what lyric poetry could do.
The 
Take
Personal reviewExcellent Shakespearean poetry, but nothing that will stay with me forever
Notable Quotes
“Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments.”
“My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun.”