After engaging with retired university professor Walters’s analysis of 32 of Shakespeare’s sonnets, readers should have confidence to tackle the remaining sonnets on their own. Walters presents each sonnet in the same format – the text of the sonnet, Walters’s single sentence summary of its essence, a diagram of the sonnet including definitions of archaic words and expressions, and a two-page description and interpretation.

Walters warns readers not to “miss the forest for the trees” by getting caught up in speculation about the identity of the young man or the dark lady for whom Shakespeare wrote the sonnets. Critics have filled books with theories about their identities without reaching a definitive conclusion. Controversies about such things as the identities of the original recipients may distract readers from appreciating each sonnet on its own merit. ( )