Sonnet as Literary Device (Shakespeare 09-05-12).

I would say as a playwright, Shakespeare would have had to have some kind of literary device to keep his writing skills sharp, as well as recording his ideas in a structure he was trying to master. A writer does not spontaneously produce great writing, it is only through the mastery of one’s art that one develops ones talents.

I would think he would have to keep his ideas within the boundaries of the sonnet, it would help to have him see both how the words look together on paper for their readability, perhaps to even keep his writing distinguishable enough to protect himself from plagiarization. He would need to see how the words would be spoken as well.

I would even consider that the other poet that he writes about may only be a simple structure for a protagonist that he would have modeled on historical people, and people with whom Shakespeare would have been familiar. The same could even be said for the “dark mistress” that is alluded to.

These sonnets could be a possible left over sentences that he had left over from other works, a collection of sentence structures to be used later.

These sonnets could be loose notes for a work, or works, that he was never able to bring to a complete fruition like his other published works.