To whom are the majority of Shakespeare's sonnets addressed?

The identity of Mr. W.H., “the only begetter of Shakespeare's Sonnets”, is not known for certain. It is thought that he may be the same person as the young man who is addressed in 126 of the sonnets, or it may be that the “young man” is based more more than one person. read more

The majority of the sonnets (1-126) are addressed to a young man, with whom the poet has an intense romantic relationship. The poet spends the first seventeen sonnets trying to convince the young man to marry and have children; beautiful children that will look just like their father, ensuring his immortality. read more

In addition, a majority of modern critics remain sufficiently satisfied with Thorpe's 1609 ordering of those sonnets addressed to the young man, but most of them have serious reservations about the second group addressed to the woman. read more