Does anyone really believe that the plays are more poetical than the Sonnets?

Question

Shakespeare's Sonnets are a pinnacle of Western culture as are his plays. I saw that someone, probably an actor or director of theater, said that his plays were much more important.

Certainly more people know him for his magnificent plays but that doesn't means that they are more important than the Sonnets and other poetry outside the plays (often modified for use in the plays.)

As a poet, I find that studying and teaching the Sonnets is just as important to me as studying and teaching the plays. These days, people really have difficulties with Shakespeare's language in general so certainly most will prefer the plays often in modern adaptations which leave the magnificent language behind.

Sorry, I never meant to be judgmental. I am happy when I hear that anyone loves the plays.

BTW, I slipped one past you. The clown in As You Like It wants the peasant girl> Audrey > to be more poetical which perhaps was correct then but now most would say "Poetic," n'est-ce pas?

Pardon me for that one but I studied linguistics far too much for the general tastes and, sob, sob, no one understands

me or my poetry. BOO HOO HOO sniff sniff

I found some tasty dog food

My favorite character is Mad Tom, and we named our first son after him, Tomás Roberto Leutwiler Eliza. (NOT!!)

Dearest friends, I think y'all are missing the point. Poetry is a highly concentrated form of communication which is much more difficult to understand than prose or even poetic play dialogue.

Few people really love poetry but for a poet to read sublime poetry is the best thing in life (well, I am exagerrating since as a religious person, I put the Bible before any other literature.You all can think of a few things more important than lit.)

However, early poetry is even more difficult to understand than modern poetry which narrows the field even more for those who really get a huge blast of inspiration from it.

So, again I am saying that to me, (a person who writes and loves more or less hermetic poetry), Shakespeare rules as the younger ones say.

BTW, I haven't been able to get anyone to join me for a group to discuss Shakespeare. (Please don't stone me for spamming since I can't figure out any other way to get in touch with those few individuals who might be interested.

Answer 1

beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
surely, you cannot judge someone for their opinion.

some will say the sonnets are more important, others say plays...i say he wrote amazing sonnets and plays and let's enjoy all of it!

Answer 2

The bard was a bard mostly in his plays. His sonnets are highly overrated. His tragedies are miracles of human self-awareness: KING LEAR, HAMELET and OTHELLO are the greatest works written in English. Francesco Petrarca, or Petrarch, as we call him, wrote the greatest sonnets of all. And created the ideal form.
Both Shakespeare's and Petrarch's sonnets are love poems but Petrarch's, to Laura, are incredible. Petrarch was essentially a poet, Shakespeare a dramatist. I think this is self-evident the more you read them. However, Shakespeare was a phenomenally poetic dramatist.

Answer 3

Poor, poor Yorick. You haven't really suffered until you've tried teaching Shakespeare to high school students. My personal opinion- his plays are unique and something similar couldn't be done by anybody else. His sonnets are the best there are, but no better than sonnets by some other poets.

Answer 4

Well, obviously the sonnets are more poetical being that the word "poetical" means of or referring to poetry. I enjoy the plays much more, but I would not say they are more important because they are two completely different things and importance is a relative term.