Resources for the Teacher
Blades, John. Shakespeare: The Sonnets. Houndsmills, England: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
John Blades gives very particular, thorough, and enlightening explications of a number of sonnets organized by theme.
Booth, Stephen. An Essay on Shakespeare's Sonnets. New Haven:Yale University Press, New Haven, 1969.
While most of Booth's discussions are far too advanced for my students, they may be of interest to the teacher wanting to learn more about the details of the structure of the sonnets.
Callaghan, Dympna. Shakespeare's Sonnets. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2007.
I found this text to be invaluable in its discussions of the themes in Shakespeare's sonnets and the particular ways the poet uses techniques of poetry to underscore his meaning.
Corn, Alfred. The Poem's Heartbeat: A Manual of Prosody. Brownsville, OR: Story Line Press, 1997.
This is a very basic text on metrical variation, stanza, refrain, and elements of prosody, written simply and clearly.
Edmondson, Paul and Stanley Wells. Shakespeare's Sonnets. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
This is a rich resource that clearly explains the history of Shakespeare's sonnets, the impact of the Shakespearean sonnet organization, the subject matter of the sonnets, and much, much more.
Jacobsen, Sarah and Mandy McQuaid. "Shakespeare sonnets 30 and 120 (1609)." Early Modern Texts Project at Valparaiso University, 7/13/2001.
http://www.valpo.edu/english/emtexts/sonn20_130print.html (accessed June 11, 2008).
Jokinen, Anniina. "Life of Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586)." Luminarium: 16th Century Renaissance English Literature (1485-1603), Sept. 24, 2007.
http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/sidbio.htm (accessed June 11, 2008).
Kuin, Roger. "Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586)." The Sidney Homepage, 03 April 2006.
http://www.english.cam.ac.uk/sidney/sidney_biography.htm (accessed June 11, 2008).
These two sites provide all the information you ever wanted about Sir Philip Sidney.
Mabillard, Amanda. Shakespeare Online. 2007.
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets (accessed 07/11/08).
This site offers all of Shakespeare's sonnets, a line by line translation and analyses.
Marsico, Lynn. "Studying the Sonnet: An Introduction to the Importance of Form in Poetry" Yale National Initiative, 2005. http://teachers.yale.edu/curriculum/search/viewer.php?id=initiative_05.01.11_u&skin=h (accessed June 11, 2008).
This poetry unit is extremely accessible and useful. It is aimed at the middle school teacher, and would be a good counterpart to this unit.
Matz, Robert. The World of Shakespeare's Sonnets: An Introduction. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2008.
Matz includes interesting theories about the history of writing sonnets, and how their writing fits into the cultural history of English society.
Oliver, Mary. A Poetry Handbook: A Prose Guide to Understanding and Writing Poetry. Orlando: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1994.
You will find lots of examples of poetry in various meters and line lengths.
Sharp, William. "The Sonnet: Its Characteristics and History." Sonnet Central, October 27, 2007. http://www.sonnets.org/sharp-c.htm (accessed June 11, 2008).
You will find lots of information about sonnet structure and history at this site.
West, David. Shakespeare's Sonnets with a New Commentary. London: Duckworth Overlook, 2007.
This is an excellent resource, with each sonnet followed by a good paraphrase and detailed explications.
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