John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester was an English Libertine poet, a friend of King Charles II, and the writer of much satirical and bawdy poetry. He was the toast of the Restoration court and a patron of the arts. He married an heiress, Elizabeth Malet, and had many mistresses, including the actress Elizabeth Barry.

Sonnets from the Portuguese was first published in 1850. It is a collection of forty-four love sonnets written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The poems largely chronicle the period leading up to her 1846 marriage to Robert Browning.

Sonnet 18 is possibly the most famous of Shakespeare's sonnets. The sonnet (meaning ‘little song’) originated in Italy in the 13th century and became fashionable in England in the early 16th century. English sonnets of the period usually treated on the poet’s love for a woman, although not exclusively.