Sonnet is a kind of lyric short poem originated from Italian folk, which prevailed in Europe in the early Renaissance. Its structure is very rigorous, and it is divided into two parts: the upper part has eight lines and the lower part has six lines, each with eleven syllables. The rhyme arrangement is ABBA ABBA, CDCDDED. Shakespeare's sonnets are more rigorous in structure. He divided the sonnets into two parts, the first part is three four lines, and the second part is two lines, each with ten syllables. The rhymes are abab, cdcd, efef, gg, GG. This form was later called "Shakespeare" or "Elizabethan". For a poet, the more rigorous the structure of a poem, the more difficult it is to express feelings, while Shakespeare's sonnets are unrestrained and free. Just as his plays are unconstrained, his poetic language is imaginative and full of emotion.
1609, Shakespeare published Sonnets, which is his last non-dramatic work. Scholars can't confirm the completion time of each of 154 sonnets, but there is evidence that Shakespeare wrote these sonnets for a private reader throughout his creative career. Earlier, two unauthorized sonnets appeared in "Enthusiastic Pilgrim" published by 1599. Francis Mills, an English writer, once mentioned "the sweet sonnets circulated among close friends" in 1598. A few analysts believe that the published works are based on Shakespeare's intentional arrangement. It seems that he has planned two opposite series: one is about a dark-skinned married woman's uncontrollable desire; The other is about the pure love of a white youth.
It is not clear whether these characters represent real people or the "I" in the poems represents Shakespeare himself, although william wordsworth, a British poet, thinks that "Shakespeare opened his heart" in these sonnets. The version of 1609 is dedicated to a "Mr. W.H.", and the dedication calls him the "only begetter" of these poems. Whether this dedication was written by Shakespeare himself or added by the publisher Thomas Thorpe remains a mystery. Thorpe's initials appear at the end of the dedication page. Despite a lot of academic research, it is still unknown who Mr. W. H. is, or even whether Shakespeare authorized the publication of this book. Critics praised sonnets for profoundly reflecting the essence of love, sex, reproduction, death and time.