The Human Heartappears in All poems

The great subject of all these poems is love, without reference to specific individuals other than Shakespeare himself, his lover(s) and his emotions. There is also no mention of specific objects or places, although the reader may assume sixteenth century England as the locale in which the poems were written.

Deathappears in Most poems

The imminence of death appears overtly and covertly throughout this collection as an emotional undertone that serves to intensify the emotions of love, aging and childbirth. Shakespeare make countless references to the need for his lady to bear a child to defeat death, for example.

Paintingappears in Several poems

Portraiture is mentioned several times as a symbol for art as the enemy of death, and in some of these instances the poet tells his lover that no portrait could ever do her justice, as in Sonnet 83: "I...