Its very easy to think of Shakespeare as a one-off genius with a unique perspective on the world

around him. However, Shakespeare was very much a product of the huge cultural shifts that were
occurring in Elizabethan England during his lifetime.
He was working in the theater at the height of the renaissance movement, something that is
reflected in Shakespeares plays.
The Renaissance in Shakespeare's Time
Broadly speaking, the renaissance movement is used to describe how Europeans moved away
from the restrictive ideas of the Middle Ages.
The ideology that dominated the Middle Ages was heavily focused on the absolute power of God
and was enforced by the formidable Catholic Church.
From the Fourteenth Century onwards, people started to break away from this idea. The
renaissance movement did not necessarily reject the idea of God, but rather questioned
humankinds relationship to God an idea that caused an unprecedented upheaval in the
accepted social hierarchy. In fact, Shakespeare himself may have beenCatholic.
This focus on humanity created a new-found freedom for artists, writers and philosophers to be
inquisitive about the world around them.
Shakespeare: the Renaissance Man
Shakespeare was born towards the end of the renaissance period and was one of the first to bring
the renaissances core values to the theater.
Shakespeare Embraced the Renaissance in the Following Ways:

Shakespeare updated the simplistic, two-dimensional writing style of pre-renaissance

drama. He focused on creating human characters with psychologically complexity.Hamlet is
perhaps the most famous example of this.

The upheaval in the accepted social hierarchy allowed Shakespeare to explore the
humanity of every character regardless of their social position. Even monarchs are given human
emotions and are capable of making mistakes.

Shakespeare utilized his knowledge of Greek and Roman classics when writing his plays.
Before the renaissance, these texts had been suppressed by the Catholic Church.
Shakespeares sonnets are written in a strict poetic form that was very popular during
his lifetime. Broadly speaking, each sonnet engages images and sounds to present an argument to
the reader.

Sonnet Characteristics
A sonnet is simply a poem written in a certain format. You can identify a sonnet if the poem has
the following characteristics:

14 lines. All sonnets have 14 lines which can be broken down into four sections called
quatrains.

A strict rhyme scheme. The rhyme scheme of a Shakespearean sonnet is ABAB / CDCD
/

EFEF

GG

(note

the

four

distinct

sections

in

the

rhyme

scheme).

Written in iambic Pentameter. Sonnets are written in iambic pentameter, a poetic meter
with 10 beats per line made up of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables.
Main Features: The sonnet is a fourteen-line poem that ranks among the most popular poetic
forms in international literature. In the typical sonnet, a strict arrangement of rhymes and
rhythms is used to describe a single, unified subjectalthough there can be subtle shifts of
attitude, emphasis, and meaning in the course of the fourteen lines. Often, several sonnets by the
same author will be grouped into a "sonnet cycle" or "sonnet sequence" that addresses a set of
related issues and ideas. While influential early sonnet writers such as Petrarch and William
Shakespeare gave considerable attention to topics such as love and romance, later poets
expanded the thematic range of the sonnet to include concerns such as religion, nature, and
scenes of everyday life.
Shakespeares sequence of 154 sonnets should be read together because they interlock and create
a narrative. The story revolves around the poets relationship with his twomuses a young man
with whom he is infatuated, and then later, a dark woman.
The muses are used to break down the sonnets into three sequences, as follows:
The first 126 sonnets are addressed to a young man described as the fair youth and reveal a
deep, loving friendship. The speaker encourages the friend to procreate so that his youthful
beauty can be carried on through his children. The speaker also believes that the mans beauty
can be preserved in his poetry, as the final couplet of Sonnet 17 reveals:

But

were

some

child

of

yours

alive

that

time,

[in

the

future]

You should live twice: in it, and in my rhyme.

Some believe that the intimacy of the relationship between the speaker and the young man is
evidence of Shakespeares homosexuality. However, this is probably a very modern reading of a
classical text. There was no public reaction to the relationship when the sonnets were first
published by Thomas Thorpe in 1609, suggesting that the expression of a deep friendship
through such language was perfectly acceptable in Shakespeare's time. It was perhaps more
shocking to the Victorian sensibility.
Top 5 Most Popular Fair Youth Sonnets:

Sonnet 1: From Fairest Creatures We Desire Increase

Sonnet 18: Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day?

Sonnet 29: When In Disgrace With Fortune and Men's Eyes

Sonnet 73: That Time Of Year Thou Mayst In Me Behold

Sonnet 116: Let Me Not To The Marriage Of True Minds

he Dark Lady Sonnets (sonnets 127 152) follow thefair youth sequence. In sonnet 127,
the dark lady enters the narrative and instantly becomes the object of the poets desire. The

speaker introduces the woman by explaining that her beauty is unconventional:

In
the
old
age
black
was
not
counted
Or

if

it

were,

it

bore

not

beautys

fair,
name;

Therefore my mistress eyes are raven black not born fair, no beauty lack.
From the poets perspective, he is treated badly by the dark lady. She is a temptress described in
sonnet 114 as my female evil and my bad angel which ultimately causes anguish for the
poet. She seems to be linked to the young man in some way and some sonnets suggest that she is
having a passionate affair with him.
As the poets frustrations build, he begins to use the word black to describe her evil rather than
her beauty.
For example, the poet sees the dark lady with another man later on in the sequence and his
jealousy boils to the surface. Notice how the word black is used with negative connotations in
sonnet 131:
One

on

Thy

black

anothers
is

fairest

neck
in

do
my

witness
judgements

bear
place.

In

nothing

art

thou

black

save

in

thy

deeds,

And thence this slander, as I think, proceeds.

Top 5 Most Popular Dark Lady Sonnets:

Sonnet 127: In The Old Age Black Was Not Counted Fair

Sonnet 130: My Mistress' Eyes Are Nothing Like The Sun

Sonnet 131: Thou Art As Tyrannous, So As Thou Art

Sonnet 142: Love Is My Sin, And Thy Dear Virtue Hate

Sonnet 148: O Me! What Eyes Hath Love Put In My Head

3. The Greek Sonnets (Sonnets 153 and 154)
The final two sonnets are very different and draw upon the Roman myth of Cupid, to whom the
poet has already compared his muses.