Modern Library Classics: The Sonnets and Other Poems

Before most people even knew that he had written plays, William Shakespeare had already become famous as a dazzling poet. The English language's most extraordinary anatomy of love in all its dimensions - desire and despair, longing and loss, adoration and disgust - is found in his sonnets. To read them is to confront morality and eternity in the same breath.

Produced under the editorial supervision of Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen, two of today's most accomplished Shakespearean scholars, "The Sonnets and Other Poems" includes all of Shakespeare's sonnets, the long narrative poems "Venus and Adonis" and "The Rape of Lucrece," and several other shorter works. This unique volume incorporates definitive texts and authoritative notes from "William Shakespeare: Complete Works," and also features an expanded Introduction by Jonathan Bate that places the poems in literary and historical context and illuminates their relationship to Shakespeare's dramatic writing. Key facts about the individual selections, an index of the first lines of the sonnets, a chronology of Shakespeare's life and times, and recommendations for further reading are also included.

Ideal for both students and general readers, this modern and accessible edition sets a new standard in Shakespearean literature for the twenty-first century. By adjusting the word order and incorporating additional contextual information, the reading experience has been enhanced while preserving the original meaning and significance of Shakespeare's timeless poetic works.

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