The sonnet starts with the narrator admiring a star in the sky for its steadfast brightness and solitude but then admitting ...

Whatever the weather. The poetic form of the sonnet originated in the 13th century in Italy. It was originally intended as a way of expressing romantic love among the upper classes. Traditional ...

But the collection’s most intriguing text is an altered copy of Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 116,” a famous ode to unceasing love. Elias Ashmole, a 17th-century politician and collector John ...