drmlutze 's review for:

Shakespeare's Sonnets by William Shakespeare

4.0

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Shakespeare's sonnet sequence comes at the end of the sonnet tradition, but perhaps because of the long history leading up to his own attempt, some of these sonnets are some of the best I've read from Early Modern poets. However, it will be clear rather quickly that there are certain themes which are repeated - sometimes to the point of frustration - for instance, the first nearly 20 sonnets are simply repetitions of his request that the beautiful young man he's addressing produce some progeny. Although the repetition can seem at times redundant, at the same time, readers should expect to find gems within each of these broad themes that are worth memorization.