Although unknown, Shakespeare’s accepted birthday is April 26, 1564.

Lived in Stratford, which was a major port city in Englad.

Married Anne Hathaway at the age of 18.

Constructed of 14 lines Contain 3 quatrains of abab rhyme

scheme Ends with a couplet Therefore: ababcdcdefefgg rhyme

scheme Often written in a series

• A sonnet starts a story or theme Next sonnet continues the theme or story.

Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets First 126 sonnet written to a boy

• “Plutonic love” Sonnets 127 through 154 known as

the “Dark Lady” sonnets• Never named, only described.

Form in which Shakespeare writes almost all of his work• Sometimes wrote in paragraphs to differentiate

characters in plays/depict intelligence or class Stressed/Unstressed syllabus

• 5 combinations of the stressed/unstressed syllables in each line

Used for a purpose• Mimics natural speech• Easier to memorize because follows simple

beat

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimmed; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed; But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade, When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st. So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.