What I'd Need to Do

What I'd need to do before, or as a part of, coming to any sort of understanding for myself of what Shakespeare's Sonnets are all about is . .

1. Review history leading up to, and swirling around, the era of their supposed creation, and their actual printing--what was going on? who were the principal players?
   
2. Consider all possible poets, and poetic talent. Many are identified and have works attributed to them; others are potential poets at this level, given their aristocratic education (and experience).
   
3. Study the sonnet form, its history, what change the Elizabethan era wrought upon it, who else was working in it (e.g., Philip Sidney).
   
4. Review efforts to decode the dedication page.
   
5. Consider expert/academic commentary on individual Sonnets, sources likely used, possible meaning.
   

I might also set up a blind study, presumably of those who don't have a 'dog in the race' but are also quite capable of commenting on literature in this manner. I'd ask them to assess literary quality, writer gender (masculinity-femininity), writer age, and what comes up for them (who's writing whom, as in gender-age-type, and about what).