This new edition focuses on Shakespeare's Sonnets as poetry - sometimes strikingly individual poems, but often subtly interlinked in thematic, imagistic, and other groupings. The volume also addresses the many questions that cast a veil of mystery over the genesis of the poems. To what extent are The Sonnets autobiographical? What is the nature of the 'love', strongly expressed, between the 'poet', the 'youth' and the 'Dark Lady'? Can they, apart from the poet, be identified? Who is the 'rival poet'? When were The Sonnets written and in what order? What were the circumstances surrounding their publication? The volume is introduced by the sensitive critical insights of the poet and scholar, Anthony Hecht. The text, following the 1609 quarto, has been edited by Gwynne Blakemore Evans and is followed by his extensive annotation, informed by long acquaintance with Shakespeare's art. The volume as a whole will appeal to a new generation of students and poetry-lovers.