Most of Shakespeare’s sonnets are dedicated to the Fair Youth, a person whose identity has been the subject of scholarly speculation for hundreds of years. Nobody can definitively identify who the Fair Youth actually was, but even more interesting than the Fair Youth’s identity is the question of whether the relationship between Shakespeare and this unknown person was platonic or romantic.

This question of the nature of their relationship comes about because of the nature of the sonnets dedicated to the Fair Youth. In these poems, Shakespeare often describes him in romantic, loving terms; however, most of these poems can also be read as poems of advice where Shakespeare relates wisdom to a young mentee. For example, in “Sonnet 73,” Shakespeare seems to both be telling the Fair Youth to love him more because of his aging while also telling the Fair Youth to appreciate youth because it is fleeting.

These dual meanings pop up quite often in many of the sonnets dedicated to the Fair Youth, and because there is so little historical record about Shakespeare’s life, it is almost impossible to come to a final decision about the nature of this relationship. What is clear, however, is that Shakespeare’s sonnets show a strong attachment and dedication to this person.