Explores the intricate hidden organisation of Shakespeare's Sonnets

Discusses Shakespeare as a writer with career aspirations as a poet
Analyses individual poems, especially anthology pieces and minor" sonnets, from new perspectives
Explores Shakespeare's relations with his poetic contemporaries

This book argues the idea that Shakespeare was deeply engaged with other poets and with pursuing a career as a poet, and that the organisational schemes of the Sonnets have been hiding in plain sight for over four centuries. The fundamental reason why his schemes have gone unnoticed is historical: within decades of his death, conventions of sonnet sequences became unfamiliar, and they have largely remained so since. Weaving together ideas of the Sonnets as a free-standing sequence and as a sonnet sequence among other poets' complex sequences, we discover new insights into Shakespeare's career as a poet.

"