They were
introduced to England during the Tudor era by Sir Thomas
Wyatt
THE AUTHORSHIP OF THE SONNETS
There is no
documented evidence recording of when the sonnets were all
written
Therefore there
is some doubt as to their true authorship!
It is, however,
certain that Shakespeare had written some of the sonnets as
in 1598 a certain Francis Meres made reference to
Shakespeare as "his sugared sonnets among his private
friends."
Meres appears to
be criticising Shakespeare for fawning to his potential
patrons
THE THEMES OF THE SONNETS
The themes of
the Sonnets are about love
They appear to
be dedicated to a handsome boy and a rival poet together
with a mysterious and aloof "dark" lady that they both love
The sonnets are
numbered and fall into three categories:
Sonnets 1 to 126
are addressed to or concern a young man
Sonnets 127-152
are addressed to or concern a dark lady
Sonnets 153-154
are free adaptations of two classical Greek poems
The Sonnets can
be accessed in full by clicking the following link:
