When poets refer to other great works, people, and events, it’s usually not accidental. Put on your super-sleuth hat and figure out why.
Historical References
- Dissolution of the Monasteries (4): In a famous passage in his book Seven Types of Ambiguity, the English poet and critic William Empson argues that line 4 in Shakespeare's Sonnet 73 refers to how King Henry VIII disbanded and laid waste to monasteries as part of his separation from the Roman Catholic Church.