Category: Sonnets

Thank you to Jane Kingsley-Smith for offering an introduction to sonnets 81-154:

In case you missed it, here is Jane’s general introduction to the sonnets:

Jane Kingsley-Smith is Professor of Shakespeare Studies at the University of Roehampton, London. She is the author of three books: Shakespeare’s Drama of Exile (Palgrave 2003), Cupid in Early Modern Literature and Culture (CUP, 2010), and, most recently, The Afterlife of Shakespeare’s Sonnets (CUP, 2019). She has also edited Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost for Norton, and the tragedies of Webster and Ford for Penguin. You can hear her further thoughts on  the Sonnets in a series of podcasts recorded for the Folger Shakespeare Library. 

Many thanks to my friend Joey Bianco of Whim Wham for the animated video elements.

Two introductions for the price of one today! Thank you to Jane Kingsley-Smith for offering a general introduction to the sonnets…

…and an introduction to Sonnets 1-80:

Jane Kingsley-Smith is Professor of Shakespeare Studies at the University of Roehampton, London. She is the author of three books: Shakespeare’s Drama of Exile (Palgrave 2003), Cupid in Early Modern Literature and Culture (CUP, 2010), and, most recently, The Afterlife of Shakespeare’s Sonnets (CUP, 2019). She has also edited Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost for Norton, and the tragedies of Webster and Ford for Penguin. You can hear her further thoughts on  the Sonnets in a series of podcasts recorded for the Folger Shakespeare Library. 

Many thanks to my friend Joey Bianco of Whim Wham for the animated video elements.

Here are some helpful resources to enhance your experience of Shakespeare’s sonnets:

• There are synopses and analysis of all the sonnets available at shakespeare-online.com.
• The Folger Library has five sonnet-themed lessons plans. They’re intended for teachers to use with students, but they also just offer interesting ways to approach the sonnets.
• The Folger also has a reproduction of a 1609 edition of the sonnets.
• During the COVID-19 isolation, Patrick Stewart has been recording a sonnet each day. You can view them all on Facebook or Twitter.
• YouTube has a complete audiobook of Shakespeare’s sonnets.
• Crash Course Literature has an introduction to the sonnets, also on YouTube.
• If you have access to Kanopy (through your library), you can access the Illuminations Media four-part series on the sonnets.
• Shameless self-promotion: create a Star Wars sonnet of your own on the William Shakespeare’s Star Wars Sonnet Generator.

While I didn’t find a lot of artwork for the sonnets, here are some covers from collections of the sonnets.