There are two sets of background readings for the Sonnets: some extensive excerpts from the most widely read "text book" of the period on the subject of proper courtly behaviour, The Courtier. The passages I have chosen give insight into the profoundly influential tradition of courtly love that lies behind the whole sonnet tradition--and which both affected and amused Shakespeare.
You will also be invited to read sonnets in the English tradition, influenced heavily by the great Italian sonneteer, Petrarch.
- Baldassare Castiglione, The Book of the Courtier
- Some pre-Shakespearean sonnets
Table of Contents |
Study Plan |
Self-Test |
Background Reading |
Commentary
This page last updated April 20, 1997. Enquiries to Michael Best, mbest1@uvic.ca.
© Michael Best, The University of Victoria, and the Open University of B.C.