| Fair Lord |
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The earliest poems in the collection do not imply a close personal relationship; instead, they recommend the benefits of marriage and children. With the famous sonnet 18 ("Shall I compare thee to a summer's day") the tone changes dramatically towards romantic intimacy. Sonnet 20 explicitly laments that the young man is not a woman. Most of the subsequent sonnets describe the ups and downs of the relationship, culminating with an affair between the poet and the Dark Lady. The relationship seems to end when the Fair Lord succumbs to the Lady's charms. There have been many attempts to identify the Fair Lord. Shakespeare's one-time patron, the Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl Of Southampton is the most commonly suggested candidate, although William Herbert, 3rd Earl Of Pembroke has moved into contention, being somewhat younger than Shakespeare or Southampton {Link without Title} . Both claims have much to do with the dedication of the sonnets to "Mr WH", "the only begetter of these ensuing sonnets": the initials could relate to either Earl. However, while Shakespeare's language often seems to imply that the 'lord' is of higher social status than himself, this may not be the case. The apparent references to the poet's inferiority may simply be part of the rhetoric of romantic submission. |
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