What happens is one fails to see what Shakespeare is actually trying to accomplish. Too often Shakespeare readings are weighed down by an overly romanticized or sentimental reading, focusing on the sonnets as solely isolated pieces dedicated to the infatuation with some literal subject. It also means considering what is often overlooked by the more “popular” or academic readings of Shakespeare. In this context, while there are myriad websites listing Shakespeare’s top 10 sonnets, and no two lists are likely to be the same, the relevant issue in defining 10 of Shakespeare’s greatest sonnets is that of selecting those which give us a glimpse into the higher order of meaning weaved through the series of sonnets as a whole it means selecting those sonnets which capture the depths of Shakespeare’s insight into the nature of man. In a word: a work assumes the title of classical, of a “classic,” because of the quality of soul which emanates from it it says something about the human condition in ways which make it stand as if outside of time and space – it is a “classic”. Every great culture which has had the opportunity to fully develop its potential has likely had a “classical” period. From this standpoint, the idea of classical poetry and classical culture was never to be understood as something based “in time,” as if from a certain period, but rather, it was considered classical because of the nature of the ideas it advanced, ideas which the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley referred to as “profound ideas concerning man and nature” it was classical because of the way in which it chose to represent these ideas, namely, through beauty. His poetry is not only one of the most exalted examples of what an immortal sense of creative identity can accomplish, but it is in a sense a kind of symbol for the immortality of the artist and the idea of timelessness itself.

William Shakespeare (baptized Ap– died April 23, 1616) is arguably the greatest writer in any language.

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