A Guide to Shakespeare's Sonnets - An Introduction

"We have not reprinted the Sonnets, &c. of Shakespeare, because the strongest act of Parliament that could be framed, would fail to compel readers into their service..." - George Steevens (publisher).

In the wake of a ridiculously hurtful breakup I have turned my energies to The Sonnets. No act of Parliament has led me here. Rather that misery loves company, and so I came to the most reliable source of love-worn misery, the master poet of courtly love, Mr. William Shakespeare. To quell the fires of my burning ache, I dove in to the libraries of Manhattan to discover the background surrounding these exquisite poems.

So much friggin' mystery!

Love triangles, homosexuality, whores, and the painful competition of artistic and sexual rivalry surround these 154 sonnets in a fog that, although scholar after scholar has archaeologically delved into finding the answers, each one dispiritedly admits that their educated speculation will have to satisfy. The sum of which these thousand questions come down to two words.

Why and whom?

Thus, in the asylum of my little Lower East Side Apartment, my misery and I will attempt to study these professions of passion, and maybe come to some conclusions of my own...