During research into the musical element in English poetry, Dr Wilson read the work of the Elizabethan sonneteers chronologically and had a suspicion that Shakespeare's sonnets were parodies. Later after more thorough investigation, first published in 1974, this is the result: her early impressions were justified beyond all expectation.

1. Introductory (i) The Sonnet Texture (ii) English Sonneteers 2. The Sonnet in Shakespeare's Plays 3. The Dark Lady 4. The Man Friend 5. Postscripts (i) Thorpe's Dedication (ii) Gulling Sonnets (iii) The Date (iv) Shakespeare Not Homosexual. Notes. Index.