The arrangement of the Dark Land sonnets does not seem adequate. Their numbering was done by Thomas Thorpe, who published all sonnets of Shakespeare for the first time in 1609, probably without the poet’s permission. Many critics, including Dowden, Stirling and Auden tried to establish the correct order of these poems without success.

The next important question is about the identity of the woman. This problem as well remains unsolved, although there are a lot of theories. One of the suggestions is Mary (or Mall) Fitton, who was Maid of Honour to the Queen and by the way she was the mistress of William Herbert (the Earl of Pembroke), who is suggested to be the subje

Some topics in this essay:
Mary Fitton, Stella Compared, Dark Lady, Lady Sonnets, William Shakespeare, Stirling Auden, Earl Pembroke, Thomas Thorpe, Lucy Negro, dark lady, William Herbert, love sonnet, dark lady sonnets, sonnet sequence, sonnets sequence, mary fitton, love rare, intercourse towards, past reason, physical love, shakespeare writes,