Sonnets

The complete sonnets - available for the first time in Vintage Classics

INTRODUCTION BY GERMAINE GREER

Shakespeare’s sonnets are lyrical, haunting, beautiful and often breath-taking, representing one of the finest bodies of poetry ever penned. They demonstrate the writer’s skill in capturing the full range of human emotions within a carefully prescribed form and creating something unique in every one. Some are familiar – Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? – others unexpected, but together they form an extraordinary meditation on the nature of love, lust, beauty and time.

About the Author

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564. In London, Shakespeare became the principal playwright and shareholder of the successful acting troupe the Lord Chamberlin's men (later, under James I, called the King's men) which built and occupied the Globe theater. In 1616, he died in Stratford after having written 37 plays, sonnets, and other poetry which would become crucial to the cannon of English literature.