Time in Four Shakespeare Sonnets

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Sudeshna Kar Barua (Independent Scholar - Asia)

Ed. by J A Roe, University of York
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.03: English Writing and Culture: Renaissance (Elizabethan and Jacobean periods) , 1485-1625.
Vol. editors: William M. Hamlin (Washington State University), Nicole Kennedy (University of Newcastle), J A Roe (University of York), Virginia Mason Vaughan (Clark University), Ema Vyroubalova (Trinity College Dublin)

Domains

Literature Topic

Dates

Date of occurrence c.1593- c.1609

Places

United Kingdom (Location)

Genres and Modes

Poetry (any)

Resources

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With the exception of the Procreation sonnets (1-17), William Shakespeare’s Sonnet Sequence, comprising 154 poems in all, eludes simple compartmentalization. In the absence of a definite story line or a systematic arrangement ensuring a smooth flow from any one theme/topic/issue to another, any attempt to divide Shakespeare’s Sonnets from No.18 onwards into well-defined units will be problematic. The only reasonably satisfactory ones are the Young Man (1-126) and the Dark Lady (127-152) sections, unequal in length, followed by the -- somewhat loosely connected -- Anacreontic 153 and 154. Even so, efforts to string at least a few sonnets -- though not always consecutive -- together on the basis of theme, mood, intent etc., will perhaps not be entirely futile. Hence this threading…

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2512 words

Citation: Kar Barua, Sudeshna. "Time in Four Shakespeare Sonnets". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 April 2025 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=19805, accessed 02 May 2025.]