Sonnet 18: Only 18 or are there MORE?

Sonnet 18 by Sir William Shakespeare

Have you ever heard of Sonnet 18 written by the great poet William Shakespeare? Back in school, secondary school to be specific, most of us (until now I guess) have been introduced with this piece of art from Mr Shakespeare. We were usually assigned to cite the poem full heartedly as if we understand every single line. But did we? Did we really understand the meaning back then? I'm not really sure about you readers out there, but in my case, I knew it is supposed to be a love poem, thus that was all I understand. But I guess my thoughts were wrong.

First of all, do all of you know that this Sonnet 18 is not the only piece of sonnet? Sonnet 18 is the 18th sonnet (Sonnet is actually a format of writing a poem by the way). There are actually 154 sonnets Shakespeare had written. Have you heard of this before?





I've always believed back then that there were only one piece of sonnet, but later on in the University, I figure out the truth. And it was very suprising & shocking, I must say.

Please be informed that the 154 sonnets are actually divided into two parts, where the first part is dedicated to a man. Yes, a love towards a man. Then, only the second part is where it starts focusing on the poet's love towards a lady.

As an English Literature student & an English course teacher, I know I have to understand this matter well, especially when I have to explain this to the students. You readers out there, who are also teachers, make sure you keep your students to listen to you with an open mind. Narrow minded students will find it hard to accept the story, or to analyze the poem critically.

The issue where the first part was dedicated to a man has always been controversial. Some says Shakespeare was not interested in man, ie; gay. But then, if we were to look at the background of the time when the poem was written, it is posibble to say that the love towards the man could not have been into a sexual thing, but more to a close friendship thing. Don't you think so?

It is easy to compare this background to the Muslims belief where back then, the English people who were the loyal follower of the Catholic Church were very much controlled or behaved much like the Muslims, where the Muslims have to watch their behaviour when it comes to the relationship between the male & the females. Thus, the same gender of people get closer to each other. It's common, isn't it? The same situation can be applied to Shakespeare too!

Thus, the second part is obvious to show that Shakespeare is indeed a normal person who has desires towards woman, ie; he's not gay! Agree?

However, this poem has a lot of analysis. Lots of them can be found everywhere on the internet. But in the end, it's all depends on our interpretations. So to all English teachers out there, be prepared with all kinds of questions from your students before you start discussing this poem with your students. Don't avoid their questions, answer them. Always remember not to kill their curiousity.

I hope this poem can help some of you to have a good set induction in your literature class later. Good luck!


*Quote of the day:

"Language shapes the way we think and determines what we can think about".