Focus particular attention on sonnets 15, 16, 20, and 30

Study Questions:
1.  What sort of person is the young man to whom these sonnets are addressed? What does Shakespeare's language tell you about his appearance, his social class, his personality?
2.  What sort of love does the poet feel for the young man?
3.  In what ways do these sonnets reflect Petrarchan tradition?  In what ways do they depart from it?
4.  How does Shakespeare personify Time, and what role does it play in his relationship with the young man?
5.  The "procreation sonnets" at the beginning of the collection are not really love poems.  How are they related to the love sonnets that follow?

Focus particular attention on sonnets 42, 73, 82, and 126

Study Questions:
1.  How does the threat posed by Time continue and develop in these sonnets?
2.  How does the young man's relationship with the poet's mistress affect his relationship with the poet?
3.  What strategies does Shakespeare use to respond to rival poets' works?
4.  How does Shakespeare use legal language to convey the experience of love in the sonnets to the young man?
5.  How does Shakespeare use the language of religion in the sonnets to the young man?

Focus particular attention on sonnets 129, 131, 144, and 147

Study Questions:
1.  What sort of person is the Dark Lady these sonnets address, and what sort of love does the poet feel for her?
2.  How do the sonnets to the young man and the sonnets to the Dark Lady compare?
3.  How is love related to imagination in the sonnets to the Dark Lady?
4.  How does Shakespeare use the language of religion in his sonnets to the Dark Lady?