1. Doubt thou the star are fire: Doubt that the sun doth move: Doubt truth to be a liar: But never doubt I love. (Hamlet)

2. William Shakespear was an English poet, playwright and actor widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist.

3. William Shakespear was born at Stratford on Avon in the April of 1564. He was the eldest son and attended the local grammar school.

4. He married Anne Hathaway when he was only eighteen. In 1584 he went to London. In 1593 the London theatres were closed for the plague, and Shakespeare needed the support of a private patron.

5. When the theatres reopened, Shakespeare become a shareholder and the main playwright of the most successful company of actors in London: the Lord Chamberlain’s Men.

6. In 1599 his company built the Globe Theatre. Between 1590 and 1596 he mainly wrote Historical dramas. He died when he was 52 years.

7. Shakespeare’s sonnets were published in 1609. The collection included 154 sonnets in decasyllables. He used three quatrains and a final couplet. His sonnets follows the structure of the Petrarc form.

8. Shakespeare’s sonnets probably circulated amongst his private friends and were sent to his patron. The 1609 publication included 154 sonnets not necessary chronological.

9. The sonnets can be divided into two section:  Sonnets I to XVIII: these are devoted to the theme of increase. The poet encourages the young man to marry and preserve his virtues and beauty trough his children.  Sonnets XVIII to CXXVI: these deal with different topics. Among them the poet’s warning about the power of time and moral weakness.

10. The second section, from the sonnet CXXVII to the end, is addressed to a “Dark Lady” or “Black Woman” who is irresistibly desirable. There is also a reversal of the tradictional themes of love sonnets. The traditional love poems praising the woman’s worth and beauty are addresses by shakespeare to a young man.

11. The style of the sonnets is characterized by a rich and vivid descriptive language. The poet plays employs the “couplet tie”, that is, a thematically important word which is repeated in the couplet from one or more of the first twelve lines of sonnets.