The Sonnets by William Shakespeare

"The Sonnets" by William Shakespeare is a collection of poems written in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. This celebrated work includes 154 sonnets, among them a mysterious sequence addressed to the "Dark Lady"—a woman described with black hair and dark skin who inspires overtly sexual verse. Unlike the spiritual devotion expressed toward the Fair Youth, these poems explore passionate, physical desire. Scholars have long debated whether the Dark Lady was a real person or purely Shakespeare's artistic creation, with various historical figures proposed but none definitively proven. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

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About this eBook

Author Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616
Title The Sonnets
Alternate Title The Shakespearian Sonnets
Note There is an improved edition of this title, eBook #1041
Note Wikipedia page about this book: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Lady_(Shakespeare)
Reading Level Reading ease score: 69.9 (8th & 9th grade). Neither easy nor difficult to read.
Language English
LoC Class PR: Language and Literatures: English literature
Subject English poetry
Subject Sonnets, English
Category Text
EBook-No. 1105
Release Date
Most Recently Updated Sep 14, 2025
Copyright Status Public domain in the USA.
Downloads 377 downloads in the last 30 days.
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