ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Shakespeare published a quarto of 154 sonnets in 1609. He wrote the poems throughout his career.

Detailed explanation-2: -Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets published in his ‘quarto’ in 1609, covering themes such as the passage of time, mortality, love, beauty, infidelity, and jealousy. The first 126 of Shakespeare’s sonnets are addressed to a young man, and the last 28 addressed to a woman – a mysterious ‘dark lady’.

Detailed explanation-3: -Nothing has been found documenting the composition of the more than 36 plays and 154 sonnets attributed to the Bard. Most scholars accept that William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, and spent time acting in London before returning to Stratford, where he lived until his death in 1616.

Detailed explanation-4: -’Sonnet 154, ’ also known as ‘The little Love-god lying once asleep, ’ describes how impossible it is for the speaker to rid himself of his love. There’s nothing he can do to stop loving the Dark Lady. This poem is one of William Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets.

Detailed explanation-5: -Sonnets 153 and 154 are anacreontics, a literary mode dealing with the topics of love, wine, and song, and often associated with youthful hedonism and a sense of carpe diem, in imitation of the Greek poet Anacreon and his epigones. The two anacreontic sonnets are also most likely homages to Edmund Spenser.