The following links offer useful and free online resources for the study and analysis of Shakespeare’s Sonnets.
Full text
- Shakespeare: Sonnets – easy access to all 154 sonnets
- The amazing web site of Shakespeare’s Sonnets – this site is a little clumsy to navigate, but does feature the complete texts plus useful commentaries and sonnets by contemporaries such as Sidney, Spencer and Drayton
- William Shakespeare Sonnets – full text plus background information
- Shakespeare’s Sonnets – free ebook from Project Gutenberg
- Free audio book of Shakespeare’s Sonnets – complete collection of audio files read by various non-professional contributors
Essays and Analysis
- An Analysis of Shakespeare’s Sonnets – full text plus paraphrased version for each sonnet and essays
- Spark Notes: Shakespeare’s Sonnets – summary and analysis of sonnets 1, 18, 60, 73, 94, 97, 116, 129, 130 & 146
- Shakespeare’s Sonnets, Cummings Study Guide – useful background information, anatomy of form and discussion of key themes
- Cliffs Notes Guide to Shakespeare’s Sonnets – includes an introduction, overview, analysis and original text for all sonnets
- Understanding Shakespeare’s Sonnets (YouTube video) – The University of Warwick celebrates the 400th anniversary of the sonnets in this discussion between Professory Stanley Wells, Jonathan Bate and Paul Edmondson. Also available on iTunes U (this link will attempt to open iTunes if you have it installed on your computer)