It was here where many of Shakespeare's plays were performed. In addition to his 37 plays, Shakespeare lent a hand in others, including Sir Thomas More and The Two Noble Kinsmen. He wrote two poems, including Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. His 154 sonnets were published in 1609 and it is believed this one done so without Shakespeare's approval. .
In about 1611 Shakespeare retired back to his hometown and continued writing plays until 1613. He died on April 23, 1616, and was buried in Holy Trinity Church. There was never a publication of a collective edition of his plays, but in 1623 two members of his acting company published the great collection, which is now called the First Folio.
William Shakespeare was a literary genius. His perfection of the English sonnet form, which later became known as the Shakespearean sonnet, is one of the great things Shakespeare is known for. He had an ability to create exceptional sonnets with his master use of literary elements. Examining his sonnets 18 and 130 will illustrate Shakespeare's expertise in developing two sonnets expressing his love and admiration, which are written at two entirely different angles.
Sonnet 18, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" is known to be Shakespeare's most famous sonnet. In the opening line ""Compare" carries the substance of all love poetry, the finding of the right image to convey the subject's beauty"(Hammond 133). Shakespeare creates an image of a summer's day, but his lover is far more lovely and perfect. Summer is too short and sometimes too hot or cloudy. Everything that is beautiful will lose its beauty by nature's choice. However, the lover's youth will not fade and the "beauty that is being borrowed from nature is owed to nature"(Howell 12). In Shakespeare's eternal verse the lover will live forever, as long as there are people on the earth who keep the poem alive.
In Sonnet 130 Shakespeare "catalogues the overfamiliar tropes while denying their applicability to his own mistress"(Pequigney 166).
