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 all 5 poems, plus 29 reference guides to Shakespeare’s language, verse, and world.
Featured This Week
All the playsQuote of the Day
Farewell! thou art too dear for my possessing
Most Read
Browse the sonnets- 01 Shakespeare’s Major Themes Reference
- 02 The Phoenix and the Turtle Poems
- 03 Iambic Pentameter: A Complete Guide Reference
- 04 Shakespeare’s Grammar and Syntax Reference
- 05 Key Literary Devices in Shakespeare’s Sonnets Reference
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
20
of 154 · Fair Youth
Sonnet 20: A Woman’s Face with Nature’s Own Hand Painted
A young man with a woman's beauty, and a love divided in two. Sonnet 20 read line by line, and why its couplet returns to the language of the Procreation Sonnets.
Next in the sequence
- Sonnet 29 When in Disgrace with Fortune and Men’s Eyes
- Sonnet 30 When to the Sessions of Sweet Silent Thought
- Sonnet 33 Full Many a Glorious Morning Have I Seen
- Sonnet 34 Why Didst Thou Promise Such a Beauteous Day
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