Editing William Shakespeare (section)

===Sonnets===
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{{Main|Shakespeare's sonnets}}
[[File:Sonnets1609titlepage.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Title page from 1609 edition of ''Shake-Speares Sonnets'']]

Published in 1609, the ''[[Shakespeare's sonnets|Sonnets]]'' were the last of Shakespeare's non-dramatic works to be printed. Scholars are not certain when each of the 154 sonnets was composed, but evidence suggests that Shakespeare wrote sonnets throughout his career for a private readership.{{sfn|Wood|2003|p=178}}{{sfn|Schoenbaum|1987|p=[https://archive.org/details/williamshakespea0000scho/page/180 180]}} Even before the two unauthorised sonnets appeared in ''The Passionate Pilgrim'' in 1599, [[Francis Meres]] had referred in 1598 to Shakespeare's "sugred Sonnets among his private friends".{{sfn|Honan|1998|p=180}} Few analysts believe that the published collection follows Shakespeare's intended sequence.{{sfn|Schoenbaum|1987|p=[https://archive.org/details/williamshakespea0000scho/page/268 268]}} He seems to have planned two contrasting series: one about uncontrollable lust for a married woman of dark complexion (the "dark lady"), and one about conflicted love for a fair young man (the "fair youth"). It remains unclear if these figures represent real individuals, or if the authorial "I" who addresses them represents Shakespeare himself, though [[Wordsworth]] believed that with the sonnets "Shakespeare unlocked his heart".{{sfn|Honan|1998|p=180}}{{sfn|Schoenbaum|1987|p=[https://archive.org/details/williamshakespea0000scho/page/180 180]}}

{{Quote box|align=right|quote=<poem>
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate&nbsp;...
</poem>
|source=—Opening lines from Shakespeare's [[Sonnet 18]].{{sfn|Mowat|Werstine|n.d.}}}}

The 1609 edition was dedicated to a "Mr. W.H.", credited as "the only begetter" of the poems. It is not known whether this was written by Shakespeare himself or by the publisher, [[Thomas Thorpe]], whose initials appear at the foot of the dedication page; nor is it known who Mr. W.H. was, despite numerous theories, or whether Shakespeare even authorised the publication.{{sfn|Schoenbaum|1987|pp=268–269}} Critics praise the ''Sonnets'' as a profound meditation on the nature of love, sexual passion, procreation, death, and time.{{sfn|Wood|2003|p=177}}