William Shakespeare:
A Reader’s Guide to the Plays, Sonnets, and Poems
210 articles and counting: guides to the plays, the most famous lines explained, close readings of 85 sonnets and of Shakespeare’s other poems, plus 29 reference guides to Shakespeare’s language, verse, and world.
Featured This Week
All the playsQuote of the Day
This above all: to thine own self be true.
Hamlet, Act 1 Scene 3
Most Read
Browse the sonnets- 01 Iambic Pentameter: A Complete Guide Reference
- 02 When Did Shakespeare Die? His Later Life and Death Biography
- 03 Shakespeare’s Major Themes Reference
- 04 Sonnet 116: Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds Sonnets
- 05 The Globe Theatre: Structure, Audience, and Stagecraft Reference
- 06 The Shakespeare Authorship Question Biography
- 07 Sonnet 18: Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day? Sonnets
- 08 Shakespeare Glossary: Archaic Words and Meanings Reference
- 09 Shakespeare’s Grammar and Syntax Reference
- 10 Venus and Adonis Poems
Explore by Section
The Plays69Guides, characters, themes, and quotes
The Sonnets85Close readings, in sequence
Famous Quotes8The best-known lines, explained
The Poems5Venus and Adonis, Lucrece, and more
Reference Guides29Language, verse, drama, and context
Shakespeare’s Life14Stratford, London, and the authorship debate
The Plays
All 38 playsFamous Lines, Explained
All quotes
To be, or not to beHamlet
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrowMacbeth
Wherefore art thou Romeo?Romeo and Juliet
All the world’s a stageAs You Like It
Is this a dagger which I see before meMacbeth
A rose by any other nameRomeo and Juliet
Double, double toil and troubleMacbeth
Friends, Romans, countrymenJulius Caesar
Go Straight to a Sonnet
All sonnets85 of 154 sonnets analyzed so far. Shaded numbers open the analysis; the rest are on the way. New to the sonnets? Start with how to read a Shakespeare sonnet.
Sonnet 18
Fair Youth
Analysis available
- Procreation1–17
- Fair Youth18–126
- Dark Lady127–152
- Anacreontic153–154
- Coming soon69
Sonnet of the Day
All sonnets
79
of 154 · Fair Youth
Sonnet 79: Whilst I Alone Did Call Upon Thy Aid
Displaced by a new poet, the speaker argues that the rival's praise is only stolen goods returned, so the young man owes him no thanks. Sonnet 79 read line by line.
Next in the sequence
- Sonnet 80 O, How I Faint When I of You Do Write
- Sonnet 81 Or I Shall Live Your Epitaph to Make
- Sonnet 82 I Grant Thou Wert Not Married to My Muse
- Sonnet 83 I Never Saw That You Did Painting Need
The Poems
All poemsReference Guides by Topic
All reference guidesReading the Sonnets
Language and Verse
- Iambic Pentameter: A Complete Guide
- Shakespeare’s Use of Blank Verse
- Shakespeare’s Use of Prose
- Shakespeare’s Rhetorical Devices
- Shakespeare’s Grammar and Syntax
- Shakespeare’s Language: How to Read Early Modern English
- Shakespeare Glossary: Archaic Words and Meanings
- Words and Phrases Shakespeare Gave Us
Drama and Style
Context and History
- Historical Context: Elizabethan England
- Shakespeare’s Sources and Influences
- Shakespeare’s Contemporaries: The Writers of His Age
- Patronage and Publication History
- The Quarto and Folio Editions
- Surprising Facts About Shakespeare
- Shakespeare’s Most Famous Sonnets
- Shakespearean vs. Petrarchan Sonnet: What’s the Difference?
- The Procreation Sonnets: Shakespeare’s Sonnets 1 to 17
Shakespeare’s Life
Start with the full biography
01William Shakespeare: Biography and Legacy
02Shakespeare’s Stratford
03Shakespeare’s Early Life and Education
04Shakespeare’s Marriage and Family Life
05The Lost Years
06Shakespeare’s Career in London
07When Did Shakespeare Die? His Later Life and Death
08Hamnet Shakespeare: The Life and Death of Shakespeare’s Son
09The Shakespeare Authorship Question