William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 1, with which the longest Elizabethan Sonnet Sequence supposedly begins, stands apart from many of its counterparts in contemporary Sonnet Cycles, owing to significant differences at multiple points. Why Shakespeare chose to distance himself from fellow sonneteers will never be known. For, in the absence of any information provided by Shakespeare himself, our knowledge about his sonnets is far from complete. In fact, there is no proof that the poem numbered 1 in
Shake-Speares Sonnets Never before Imprinted, published by Thomas Thorpe along with
A Lover’s Complaintin 1609, was actually written before the other 153 sonnets. Furthermore, there is no conclusive evidence to confirm either the exact date of its composition or the real identity of both the…
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Citation: Kar Barua, Sudeshna. "Sonnet 1". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 31 October 2024 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=41691, accessed 21 November 2024.]
