This edition brings together Shakespeare's incomparable sonnets and his major long poems, Venus and Adonis, The Rape of Lucrece,and The Phonix and the Turtle among them. Shakespeare came to maturity during the peak of the influence of the sonnet--an Italian import--on English poets. And few would doubt he is the greatest sonneteer the English language has ever produced. In their day both the light Venus and Adonis and the more tragic Rape of Lucrece were popular succeases, delighting both the Earl of Southampton to whom they were dedicated and the public at large. In an era in which plays were not treated seriously, it was these long poems--now considered relatively minor--that first gave Shakespeare claim to being an important poet.

Prefaces

INTRODUCTION

Shakespeare's Narrative Poems

Shakespeare's Sonnets

The Author

The Publication of His Plays

The Shakespearean Theatre

References for Further Reading

SHAKESPEARE'S NARRATIVE POEMS

Venns and Adonis

The Rape of Lucrece

"'The Phoenix and the Turtle"

Verses from The Passionate Pilgrim

"'A Lover's Complaint"

Critical Commentary on the Poems

Key to Famous Lines

SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS

The Sonnets

Index to First Lines