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from Wikipedia:
Shakespeare’s sonnets, or simply The Sonnets, is a collection of poems in sonnet form written by William Shakespeare that deal with such themes as time, love, beauty and mutability. They were probably written over a period of several years. All 154 poems appeared in a 1609 collection, entitled SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS, comprising 152 previously unpublished sonnets and two (numbers 138 and 144) that had previously been published in a 1599 miscellany entitled The Passionate Pilgrim.
The first 17 sonnets are written to a young man, urging him to marry and have children, thereby passing down his beauty to the next generation. These are called the procreation sonnets. Most of them, however, 18-126, are addressed to a young man expressing the poet’s love for him. Sonnets 127-152 are written to the poet’s mistress expressing his strong love for her. The final two sonnets, 153-154, are allegorical. The final thirty or so sonnets are written about a number of issues, such as the young man’s infidelity with the poet’s mistress, self-resolution to control his own lust, beleaguered criticism of the world, etc.
Your assignment:
Choose one of Shakespeare’s sonnets from the link below. Read it, try to understand it, then post the following:
1. Title of sonnet
2. What do you think it means? Paraphrase the sonnet in your own words.
3. Do you agree or disagree with the sonnet’s message? Why or why not?
Shakespeare’s Sonnets