Are Shakespeare's Sonnets Good?

This year I am trying to read some of the biggest, thickest books that I have. I decided to start with The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (because I hate myself? I don't know). So far I've read over 60 pages and I'm only 5% through the book... it is, truly, a big book.

To try and ease into this journey I decided to begin by reading Shakespeare's sonnets (I thought it'd be easier than trying to jump straight into the plays). And now that I've read them, here are the best and the worst of Shakespeare's sonnets.

The Worst...

Now, I cannot choose the particular worst sonnet because there are about 11 sonnets (in a row!) where the whole vibe is Shakespeare really wants you to have a child... like really badly. And it's just A LOT. Although, I do believe (and this is a theroy that some people have) that all of Shakespeares sonnets are about his son. So when I consider that he may have written them after his son's death and was dealing with the grief of that, I think it makes them a bit better, but just a smidgey bit better.

Therefore the worst sonnets are Sonnets 3-13.

The One I Don't Get...

Diving into reading Shakespeare I was worried that I wasn't going to understand what was being said. We read Shakespeare in high school (of course) but always had some sort of "translation" or introduction to scenes that would explain what was going on, and I was worried about not having that. Surprisingly, I've understood, or could gather the meaning, for everything I've read other than this one sonnet! And that sonnet is Sonnet 15.

(If anyone could explain that'd be much appreciated).

Honourable Mentions...

Sonnets 1 and 2 are like Shakespeare's version of pretty isn't pretty by Olivia Rodrigo and I love them for that.

Number 18, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?", is just iconic.

Sonnet 40 starts off with the most Beatles line, "Take all my love, my love, yes, take them all". And I do like the rest of it too.

Favourite Runner-ups...

These next few are some of my favourites but just didn't make the cut to be in my top faves! But I do still love them with all my heart. In no particular order: 128, 24, 35, 98, and 130.

The Best Sonnets...

I am really surprised by how many sonnets I liked, some of my favourites include Sonnet 119, 45, 28, 14, 73, and 60. However, my two favourite are, perhaps, two of my favourite poems of all time!?!? Which feels crazy to say because before starting to read this Shakespeare book, I was a hater of Shakespeare to my core! (More on that in a later article).

My second favourite sonnet is number 33. Now, this is the piece that made me realise that his son, Hamnet (total side bar, but read Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell, it's a pretty solid read, especially if you like Shakespeare or don't like him because I think that book is what started to make me change my mind about him even though I thought it would make me hate him), died already. That made me look into what sonnets are about Hamnet. This one, I think, is obviously about him and that just makes it so sad... and beautiful.

And finally, my favourite sonnet, which has been and I think will always be my favourite- a choice that is probably heavily biased because this sonnet is featured in the 1995 adaptation of Sense and Sensibility (my gateway into my full blown Austen obsession)- Sonnet 116.