Sonnet 20 by William Shakespeare

Nobody knows for sure. The Fair Youth sonnets are dedicated to a "Mr. W.H.," with the top contenders being Henry Wriothesley and William Herbert. Shakespeare never publicly revealed who the subject was, and the mystery remains unsolved. What’s important for understanding the poem is that Shakespeare writes as if this person is very real and significant to him.

It's a sign of same-sex desire, but slapping modern identity labels onto a 16th-century writer is complicated. The Elizabethan era had strong traditions of male friendship and admiration that don't fit well with today's categories. What the poem clearly reveals is that Shakespeare had a deep emotional — and at least aesthetically physical — attraction to this young man. We can't say for sure if he acted on it.

It's a purposeful contradiction. A mistress in Elizabethan terms referred to a beloved woman who wielded influence over a man's heart. By referring to the young man as his "master mistress," Shakespeare indicates that this individual has the same emotional dominance over him — yet is male. The phrase condenses the entire tension of the poem into just two words.

It's a cheeky play on words for a penis. Shakespeare mentions that Nature added "one thing" that is "to my purpose nothing" — implying it's not helpful for what he desires from the young man. The humor is intentionally crude and casual, as if Shakespeare is brushing off the physical barrier with a laugh.

It has two meanings at play. Literally, to prick out referred to marking or selecting a name on a list — so Nature chose the young man for women's pleasure. However, "prick" was also Elizabethan slang for penis, giving the line an obvious sexual double meaning. Shakespeare loved this kind of layered wordplay.

He's using a typical Elizabethan stereotype of women as fickle and deceptive — "false in rolling" eyes and "shifting change" in fashion. This is a rhetorical strategy to elevate the young man's image by comparison: he possesses a woman's beauty and gentleness without her alleged inconstancy. While modern readers justifiably see this as sexist, at the time, it was considered a standard compliment.

The Fair Youth sonnets (1–126) delve into themes of love, beauty, time, and how poetry can capture what life tends to erase. Sonnet 20 stands out for its direct and humorous take on physical desire. While most of the sequence leans towards reflections on time, mortality, and the lasting power of poetry, this particular sonnet offers a lighter tone. Nonetheless, it’s key to grasping the emotional depth of the entire sequence.

It's a Shakespearean sonnet: it consists of three quatrains (four-line stanzas) followed by a closing couplet, with a rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. One interesting aspect is that each line ends with a feminine rhyme (an additional unstressed syllable), creating a softer, more flowing sound. This choice likely reflects Shakespeare's intention to underscore the poem's themes of gender fluidity.