With an Introduction by Tim Cook Shakespeare's sonnets have an intensity of both feeling & meaning unmatched in English sonnet form They divide into two parts; the first 126 sonnets are addressed to a fair youth for whom the poet has an obsessive love & the second chronicles his love for the notorious ' Dark Lady' In addition to the sonnets this volume
Includes:: Shakespeare's two lengthy narrative poems on classical themes The Rape of Lucrece which looks forward to the dark imagery of Macbeth & Venus & Adonis which mixes ribaldry & tragedy in unique Shakespearean manner The Phoenix & the Turtle is a beautiful metaphysical & allegorical short elegy & takes its place with Shakespeare's better-known poetry