Sunday Evening Lecture – Jonathan Post – Bringing Shakespeare to Light: His Secrets in the Sonnets Laid Bare

Can the Sonnets really be regarded as Shakespeare’s Roman a clef?

Well, it was Wordsworth who remarked that ‘with this key (the sonnet) Shakespeare unlocked his heart’……hmm.

Initially the poems were only circulated among Shakespeare’s personal friends, at a time when sonnet writing was at the height of fashion.

The collection, however, would eventually garner more critical attention than any other single book of poetry; an enduring canon that has survived across the epochs of time.

Stonington resident, and distinguished Professor of English at UCLA, Jonathan F. S. Post, author of many books and articles, and editor of the Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare’s Poetry, will enlighten us with his explorations of love, lust, and the consequences of desire, and show why these great poems are still worth reading today.

Dr. Post’s talk will be based upon his two most recent books: ‘Shakespeare’s Sonnets and Poems: A Very Short Introduction’ (Oxford 2017), and ‘The Poetry of Anthony Hecht’ (Oxford 2015) both of which will be available after the presentation. This event is free and open to the public.