Shakespair: Sonnet Replies to the 154 Sonnets of William Shakespeare

Shakespeare's Sonnets (published in 1609 but mostly written in the 1590s) offer surprises everywhere, but two big ones in particular. These relate to the plot and to the range of the poet's passionate feeling. The story line has the makings of a high suspense love drama, but the author wants, more crucially, to explore his thoughts on a myriad of topics in what feels like verse journaling - moody, mercurial, unpredictable, and intense. That's why the genre of the narrative hovers between a play and what we'd now call a psychological novel.Complicating both the dramatic tension and the introspective depth is the bisexual range of the poet's passionate temperament. The fact that his boyfriend and mistress are attracted to each other will account for some of the strong conflicts in the speaker's mind. But the wild oscillations of his feeling toward each of them are also rooted in his widely receptive sexual nature.I'm a dialogic poet, carrying on a long tradition of friendly rivalry