Reference

Shakespeare Reference Guides

These guides explain the tools you need to read Shakespeare with confidence: how the sonnet form works, how his verse and language work, the conventions of his comedies and tragedies, and the world he wrote in.

Each one is written to stand on its own, so you can start anywhere. If you are new to the sonnets, What Is a Shakespearean Sonnet? is the best first step. To read the poems themselves, go to the Sonnets or Poems.

Below, the guides are grouped into four topics, each with a one-line summary.

Reading the Sonnets

The form of the Shakespearean sonnet, how to read one, and the people the poems are addressed to.

What Is a Shakespearean Sonnet?The form: three quatrains, a couplet and the turn between them.How to Read a Shakespeare SonnetA step-by-step way into a sonnet if you are reading one for the first time.The Shakespearean Sonnet Rhyme Scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GGHow meter and rhyme shape the argument of each sonnet.Key Literary Devices in Shakespeare’s SonnetsThe devices Shakespeare uses most often in the sonnets, with examples.The Fair Youth Sonnets: Who Was He?The young man of Sonnets 1 to 126, and who he may have been.The Dark Lady Sonnets: Who Was She?The woman of Sonnets 127 to 152, and the theories about her identity.

Language and Verse

How Shakespeare’s lines work: the meter, the grammar, and the words that no longer mean what they did.

Iambic Pentameter: A Complete GuideThe five-beat line: how to hear it, scan it and read it aloud.Shakespeare’s Use of Blank VerseUnrhymed iambic pentameter, the main verse form of the plays.Shakespeare’s Use of ProseWhen Shakespeare’s characters speak in prose instead of verse, and why.Shakespeare’s Rhetorical DevicesThe rhetorical figures behind Shakespeare’s speeches.Shakespeare’s Grammar and SyntaxHow Shakespeare’s grammar and word order differ from modern English.Shakespeare’s Language: How to Read Early Modern EnglishThe older words and forms that trip up modern readers.Shakespeare Glossary: Archaic Words and MeaningsAn A to Z of archaic words and their meanings.Words and Phrases Shakespeare Gave UsEveryday words and phrases that trace back to Shakespeare.

Drama and Style

The recurring ideas of the plays and poems, and the conventions of comedy, tragedy and the stage.

Shakespeare’s Major ThemesLove, time, power, fate and the other questions that run through his work.Shakespeare’s Soliloquy: A GuideWhat a soliloquy is and how Shakespeare uses it.Shakespeare’s Comedic StyleThe patterns and devices of Shakespeare’s comedies.Shakespeare’s Tragic StyleHow Shakespeare builds a tragedy.The Role of the Fool in Shakespearean DramaThe fools and clowns of the plays, and what they are for.The Globe Theatre: Structure, Audience, and StagecraftThe Globe Theatre: its structure, its audience and how plays were staged.

Context and History

The world Shakespeare wrote in, the writers around him, and how his work reached print.

Historical Context: Elizabethan EnglandThe England of Elizabeth I, and what it meant for his writing.Shakespeare’s Sources and InfluencesThe books and stories Shakespeare drew on.Shakespeare’s Contemporaries: The Writers of His AgeThe playwrights and poets who worked alongside him.Patronage and Publication HistoryHow Shakespeare’s work was supported, printed and published.The Quarto and Folio EditionsThe early printed editions, from the quartos to the First Folio.Surprising Facts About ShakespeareSurprising facts about Shakespeare’s life and work.

More Guides

Other reference guides on the site.

Shakespeare’s Most Famous SonnetsFifteen sonnets that became part of the language, from Sonnet 18 to Sonnet 130: the lines everyone knows, what each poem is about, and where to start reading.Shakespearean vs. Petrarchan Sonnet: What’s the Difference?Both have fourteen lines, but one divides them in two and the other in four.The Procreation Sonnets: Shakespeare’s Sonnets 1 to 17Seventeen poems urging a young man to marry and have a child, each making the case a new way.

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