Shakespeare's Sonnets

William Shakespeare, Dr. Barbara A. Mowat, Paul Werstine

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9781501150333
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

A bestselling, beautifully designed edition of William Shakespeare’s sonnets, complete with valuable tools for educators.

The authoritative edition of Shakespeare’s Sonnets from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers, includes:

-Full explanatory notes conveniently placed on the facing page of each sonnet
-A brief introduction to each sonnet, providing insight into its possible meaning
-An index of first lines
-Illustrations from the Folger Shakespeare Library’s vast holdings of rare books
-An essay by a leading Shakespeare scholar providing a modern perspective on the sonnets

The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, is home to the world’s largest collection of Shakespeare’s printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year, the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs. For more information, visit Folger.edu.

SHAKESPEARE’S SONNETS

1

From fairest creatures we desire increase,	1
That thereby beauty’s rose might never die,	2
But, as the riper should by time decease,	3
His tender heir might bear his memory.	4
But thou, contracted to thine own bright eyes,	5
Feed’st thy light’s flame with self-substantial fuel,	6
Making a famine where abundance lies,	7
Thyself thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel.	8
Thou that art now the world’s fresh ornament	9
And only herald to the gaudy spring	10
Within thine own bud buriest thy content	11
And, tender churl, mak’st waste in niggarding.	12
Pity the world, or else this glutton be—	13
To eat the world’s due, by the grave and thee.	14

2

When forty winters shall besiege thy brow	1
And dig deep trenches in thy beauty’s field,	2
Thy youth’s proud livery, so gazed on now,	3
Will be a tatt...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Editors’ Preface
• Shakespeare’s Sonnets
• Reading Shakespeare’s Language: The Sonnets
• Shakespeare’s Life
• An Introduction to This Text
• The Sonnets
• Two Sonnets from The Passionate Pilgrim
• Longer Notes
• Textual Notes
• Appendix of Intertextual Material
• Shakespeare’s Sonnets: A Modern Perspective by Lynne Magnusson
• Further Reading
• Index of Illustrations
• Index of First Lines
• Commentary
• Copyright