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     William Shakespeare is best known for his theatrical plays but he was also a poet. Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets, which were published for the first time in 1609 by a publisher named Thomas Thorpe. It is unknown whether Shakespeare ordered the sonnets to be be published or if Thorpe published them without his consent. It is not known exactly when Shakespeare began writing the sonnets, but it is theorized that he began writing them around 1590. What is a sonnet? Here is literary critic Harold Bloom’s definition:
    “The English (or Shakespearean) sonnet is written in iambic pentameter (five metrical feet to a line, each foot having one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable), and falls into three quatrains and a rhymed (heroic) couplet for an overall rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg (15).”
     This definition seems complicated. Here it is stated in more simple terms: Iambic pentameter is a type of rhythm, which is measured in in groups of syllables which are called “feet.” Iambic refers to a specific type of rhythmic foot, and pentameter means that there are five of these “feet” per line. The iambic rhythm goes: ba DUM, with the stress on the second syllable (a good real-life example of iambic rhythm is your heart beat! Notice how the emphasis is always on the second beat?). One line of iambic pentameter would look like this: ba DUM ba DUM ba DUM ba DUM ba DUM.
     The next feature of a sonnet that Bloom mentions is three quatrains and a couplet. A quatrain is a stanza (part of a poem) that is made up of four lines and a couplet is a stanza made up of two. As we can see at the end of Bloom’s definition, the first and third lines of the quatrain rhyme with one another and the second and fourth also rhyme (abab cdcd efef). The couplet at the end rhymes as well (gg).
     As Matz points out:
    “When it comes to basic facts about the sonnets, however, it is remarkable how much about them we do not know: to whom Shakespeare wrote his sonnets, when he wrote them, whether he ever meant them to be published and whether the order in which they currently appear is the one Shakespeare intended (5).”
     What we do know about Shakespeare’s sonnets is that they are addressed to two people: a male beloved and a female beloved. Sonnets 1-126 are written about the male beloved and sonnets 127-154 are written about the female beloved. It is not clear whether these sonnets are written as fiction or truth: Is Shakespeare himself the speaker in the sonnets or are they fictionalized? Were the fair young man and the dark lady real people, who were objects of Shakespeare’s affection or are they completely made up?
     Though there is much uncertainty surrounding Shakespeare’ sonnets, his musings on love and desire continue to captivate literary audiences. In the following pages, the text of some of Shakespeare’s most well-known sonnets, as well as links to literary analysis, have been posted. Below, there are links posted to full-text versions of all 154 sonnets as well as some more general information about them.

Sources:                                                                                                                                                            
Bloom, H. (1999). Shakespeare’s poems & sonnets: Bloom’s major poets.Broomall, PA: Chelsea House Publishers.
Matz, R. (2008).The world of Shakespeare’s sonnets: An introduction.Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc.

There are a few reliable websites that have the full texts of Shakespeare's sonnets online:

• EServer is an e-publishing cooperative run at Iowa State University. Though the site doesn't have any literary analysis, it does present all of the sonnets in a clear, easy to read format. I like that you can open each sonnet individually.
• Open Source Shakespeare is operated by George Mason University, and links to all of Shakespeare's plays, as well as the sonnets, can be found on the left sidebar. You cannot access the sonnets one by one, as you can on the EServer, but the layout is nice to look at.
• The Sonnets, Quarto 1 is a facsimile of the original 1609 printing of Shakespeare's sonnets! This site, presented by the University of Victoria, allows you to click through the images and see what Shakespeare's sonnets looked like in their first printing. Amazing, right?

Additional General resources:

• The Folger Shakespeare Library has a great general overview of Shakespeare's sonnets, as well as tons of information about Shakespeare's other works. Be sure to check out the "Links" page!
• The Shakespeare Resource Center is a great place to begin researching Shakespeare. Lots of great links to solid, scholarly sources!