Although Shakespeare’s sonnets can be divided into different sections numerous ways, the most apparent division involves Sonnets 1–126, in which the poet strikes up a relationship with a young man, and Sonnets 127–154, which are concerned with the poet’s relationship with a woman, variously referred to as the Dark Lady, or as his mistress.
In the first large division, Sonnets 1–126, the poet addresses an alluring young man with whom he has struck up a relationship.... More