Main characteristics of the sonnets

The first Shakespeare's collection , called "The sonnets"was printed in 1609 and it includes 154 sonnets in the so- called "Shakespaerean" ryme- scheme : 3 quatrains and one rhyming couplet important to give the syllogism a various shape (that means a premise, a second premise, a conclusion of the two premises and one final - sometimes ironic- rhyming couplet).

They don't have a precise "narrative" or "sequential"ordering , their unity is due to a constant and musical recurrence of images and theme : very often many sonnets are connected by this aspect and one sonnet could better explain something that another sonnet has inside, as a meanning.

There are 4 main unifiant elements themes between the whole production:

the Marrige and procreation

the art ability to confer immortality and glory- the THE POETRY FUNCTION OF ETHERNIZE

the effects of Time on people

the human beauty

So in Shakesperean production we can underline the importance of 2 MAIN CARACHTERS ,which are always (sometimes indirectly) present, they are the DARK LADY (whose largely artificial beauty is paralleled tby her inconstancy and unfaithfulness) and the FAIR LOVELY BOY (whose idealised beauty is paralleled by his narcissismand his refusal to marry and procreate).

18 SHALL I COMPARE THEE TO A SUMMER'S DAY?

The main themes of this sonnet are : the vain of the human beauty and the immortality conferrred by the poetry (in this case to the fair boy)

FIRST PREMISE the author asks him- self (there is a question by it's probably a rethorical one) if he could e his lover to a summer's day (that suggests an idea of natural beauty ) to be able to explain his incredible beauty (line 1 to 4)

SECOND PREMISE the author es his lover to a summer's day throught a visual image he describes the object of his sonnet. But he also understandes the vain of the human beauty, that with the Time could became less bright,but he also knows that his love and the beauty of his lover won't have a stop: against the Time his poetry can confer immortality to a person ( (the ethernal summer shade not fade) .

CONCLUSION This aspect become explicit

Those 2 parts coincide with a formal partition of a sonnet ( regarding themes ONE OCTAVE AND ONE SESTET) , but regarding the rhyme- scheme it doesn't coincide (2 quatrains and one ryming- couplet).

There are a lot of repetitions which are used to give dramatic emphasis to the poet's argument

48 HOW CAREFUL WAS I WHEN I TOOK MY WAY

this sonnets reelaborates a traditional theme as the absence of the loved one. The whole sonnet is based on a strong parallelism and a sort of metaphore: in fact the author, in the first part, speaks about his precious things (as jewels) which he has put under the safest bars to save them from thieves.

In the second part he says that he would do the same thing with his lover but he knowes that ONE CAN SECURE OBJECTS FROM THIEVES BTU ONE CAN'T SECURE THE LOVED ONE FROM INCONSTANCY CHANCE AND UNFAITHFULNESS : so we have an explicit LUCK OF TRUST.

The second part is marked by the awareness of the author  that the true love may not be binding and can't deal with a lover like with an object.

123 "NO, TIME, THOU SHALT NOT BOAST THAT I DO CHANGE"

it's considered as the masterpiece of our author and it touches many themes: the vain of human beauty, the time effects on people and the poetry immortalize function.

At the beginning of this sonnet we understand that the addressee of the poem is TIME as a personification and it's a sort of dialogue between the author, identified as a person of the human race but also with an artist, and the time described by the traditional iconography visualising death .

So we have a strong contrast between the POETRY as an ETERNAL ART which could conferr immortality and the VAIN BUILDINGS as Pyramids which could be destroied by effects of the time.

But this aspect can be also refered to a "human aspect": there is a strong contrast between  the HUMAN FISICAL ASPECT (could be destroied as his buildings - references to the arts and writing) that is fragile, and the HUMAN THOUGHTS which are eternal as the poetry.