BARNFIELD, RICHARD (1574-1627), British Poet

Considerable mystery still surrounds the life of Shakespeare's friend Richard Barnfield, whose sonnets bear many similarities to those of the Bard. Barnfield's most famous verse appears in his first work, The Affectionate Shepherd, published anonymously when he was twenty:

If it be sin to love a lovely lad,

Oh, then sin I.

A year later, Barnfield published further sonnets with a homosexual theme, celebrating his love for a young man whose initials were J.U. - possibly the young actor John Underwood.