INSTRUCTOR | Osher Lifelong Learning Institute
Liza Achilles will present a literature class for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Johns Hopkins University.
Tuesday afternoons, 1-3pm, 6 weeks, April 7 – May 12, 2026
The Carnegie at Washingtonian Center in Gaithersburg
Shakespeare’s Sonnets: 400 Years of Timeless Love
William Shakespeare’s sonnet sequence was first published over 400 years ago and still resonates with readers today. “But thy eternal summer shall not fade,” proclaims the most famous of them all (Sonnet 18). The poet addresses these words to a young man known as the Fair Youth; but the words also refer to the poetry itself. In this course, we will read and discuss Shakespeare’s Sonnets, including the 154 sonnets as well as the short narrative poem A Lover’s Complaint that was published with the sonnets in 1609. We will examine the life and times of Shakespeare and learn how he crafted these masterful 14-line poems, which have often been underrated due to their shocking sexual content. We will also read selected sonnets by other writers from various historical periods, from the Italian Renaissance through the twenty-first century.
