Sonnets
Excerpt: "Shakespeare without a Life" by Margreta de Grazia
Did Shakespeare give much thought to how his works would survive after his death? Margreta de Grazia argues that his sonnets show he did.
Billy Collins on Writing Short Poems and Reading Shakespeare's Sonnets
Poet Billy Collins talks about humanizing Shakespeare and other literary titans, delves into his own work and inspirations, and reads from his new collection, Musical Tables.
Order It: Sonnet 29
Sonnet 29 (“When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes”) is a famous example of Shakespeare’s sonnets. Try our quiz to see if you can put its lines in order.
Shakespeare's Sonnets in the Folger's Collection
Assistant Curator of Collections Elizabeth deBold shares items related to Shakespeare’s sonnets, part of a presentation preceding the October 5 poetry reading with Diane Seuss and t’ai freedom ford.
All the Sonnets of Shakespeare, with Paul Edmondson
Shakespeare Unlimited: Episode 167 Over 400 years after Shakespeare’s sonnets were first published in 1609, what is left to learn? All the Sonnets of Shakespeare, a new edition of the sonnets published in 2020, takes some bold steps to help…
Order It: Sonnet 98
It’s springtime, and Sonnet 98 is a wonderful seasonal selection from Shakespeare. Take this quiz to see if you can put the sonnet’s 14 lines into their correct order.
Order It: Sonnet 116
Sonnet 116 is one of Shakespeare’s most famous love sonnets. Take our quiz to see if you can put the lines of the sonnet in the correct order.
Excerpt – ‘All the Sonnets of Shakespeare’ edited by Paul Edmondson and Stanley Wells
Read an excerpt from the introduction of a new book that assembles all of Shakespeare’s sonnets in their probable order of composition. The editors argue that readers can gain insight into Shakespeare’s personal experiences and emotions through the sonnets.
How to think like a sonnet, or, fourteen ways of looking around a room
A sonnet packs a lot of meaning into a tiny space. Here are fourteen ways (one for each line) of approaching Shakespeare’s most well-known poems.
Savor Shakespeare's sonnets with Patrick Stewart
Need some quality poetry to help you through these difficult times? Sir Patrick Stewart has been reading a Shakespeare sonnet a day on Twitter.
The Early Years of Shakespeare's Sonnets (16th and 17th centuries)
Shakespeare Unlimited:Episode 136 Did Shakespeare intend to publish his sonnets? For whom were they written? What can they reveal about their author? We talk to Dr. Jane Kingsley-Smith about her newest book, The Afterlife of Shakespeare’s Sonnets, published by Cambridge…
Sizing Shakespeare's Sonnets
A guest post by Faith Acker I still remember the first rare book I handled in a library. It was Thomas Caldecott’s copy of the Shake-speares Sonnets. Neuer before imprinted (Thomas Thorpe, 1609) a beautiful quarto that Caldecott presented to…