Well, as you probably guessed, Shakespeare's sonnets are composed largely on the theme of love. Many of Shakespeare's sonnets were said to be dedicated to a "young man," others to a "dark lady." However, if we examine the sonnets closely, we find other themes -- youth and coming of age, life and death, pleasure, beauty, physicality, etc. I'll provide a few examples below.
"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely...
Well, as you probably guessed, Shakespeare's sonnets are composed largely on the theme of love. Many of Shakespeare's sonnets were said to be dedicated to a "young man," others to a "dark lady." However, if we examine the sonnets closely, we find other themes -- youth and coming of age, life and death, pleasure, beauty, physicality, etc. I'll provide a few examples below.
"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate." Obviously Sonnet 18 is a sonnet on the theme of love, but it also touches on the themes of youth and beauty, which are directly connected to love in this case. It is "young love."
"So, till the judgment that yourself arise, you live in this, and dwell in lover's eyes." This final couplet from Sonnet 55 dotes on themes of life and death (as well as impending judgement). At the same time, it says that while the person lives, they "dwell in lover's eyes" (again touching on themes of love).
"When hours have drain'd his blood and fill'd his brow/with lines and wrinkles; when his youthful morn/Hath travell'd on to age's steepy night." This line from Sonnet 63 dotes on the theme of youth fading away as the "young man" Shakespeare appears to be writing to ages.
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