Do the sonnets really prove that Shakespeare was gay? Listen, when has anything ever proven anything about Shakespeare?

More than any other piece of writing he left behind, Shakespeare's sonnets invite a lot of speculation and excitement about his biography. Throughout time people have thought that they would be able to figure out who this young man is and the identity of the woman that he must have had an affair with.

But there's just as much peril trying to read autobiography into the sonnets as there is in trying to read autobiography into his plays. The sonnets are an art form and a literary experiment all on their own. It is exciting that we don't know when they were written, whether they were published behind Shakespeare's back, or even who they are dedicated to, but for all the excitement these things generate about the details of Shakespeare's life, we have to remember that the sonnets are also a highly stylized aesthetic tool.

Join me as I explore the details that scholars have pored and argued over and how these things have helped create some interest and excitement over a body of work that often gets passed over in favor of a bunch of (admittedly very good) plays.

Sonnet collection referenced

The Sonnets and Narrative Poems of William Shakespeare, ed. William Burto and Sylvan Barnet

The Sonnets and Other Poems by William Shakespeare, ed. Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen

Shakespeare's Sonnets: Revised (The Arden Shakespeare) ed. Katherine Duncan-Jones

The Art of Shakespeare's Sonnets by Helen Vendler

Credit where credit is due

Podcast art by ⁠Halie Branson⁠

Music recording by ⁠josdvg⁠