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THE POEMS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

William Shakespeare is referred to as a Literary Genius and much of this praise is due tothe wonderful words of his short sonnet poems and his extended. He is the most widely

read author in the whole of the Western World - his poems and quotes from poems are

familiar to everyone. And yet when we think about Shakespear we immediately we thinkof his famous plays and not his less famous poems. During the Bard's lifetime dramatists

were not considered 'serious' authors with 'serious' talent - but it was highly fashionable

to write poems. Plays were for entertainment poems were for the elite! There was noteven such a thing as a custom built theatre until 1576! Actors were common folk. Poets

of the era such as Christopher Marlowe, Sir Philip Sydney, Sir Walter Raleigh were of

the nobility and there poems are still enjoyed today. These poets had credibility and so

did their poetry. William Shakespeare came from Yeoman stock - he lacked credibility -his poems would have helped with this poblem !. The Bard did not give permission for

one of his plays or his sonnets to be published. He was, however, happy to have his

poems published.

A Lover's Complaint Poem

A Lover's Complaint is the most neglected of the Poems of William Shakespear,assuming that it is his. It was first published in 1609, by Thomas Thorpe, under the same

cover as the Sonnets; but has seldom been reprinted. The Lover's Complaint seems to be

a very early poem (perhaps 1591), but no date of composition of the poem can beassigned.

Venus and Adonis Poem

April 18, 1593 Registration of Venus and Adonis PoemVenus and Adonis, Shakespeare's narrative poem in six-line stanzas, was published by

Richard Field (1561 - 1624). The poem was dedicated to Shakespeare's patron, HenryWriothesley, Third Earl of Southampton (1573-1624). This dedication refers to theauthor's "unpolisht lines" and contains the typically fawning language of a commoner

addressing a nobleman in the hope of obtaining, or retaining, their patronage in exchange

for poems dedicated to the recipient.

The Rape of Lucrece Poem

May 9, 1594 Registration of The Rape of Lucrece

On May 9, 1594, the poem was entered in the Hall Book of the Worshipful Company ofStationers, the English government's pre-publication registry. The poem was listed in the

Hall Book under the title of The Ravyshement [Ravishment] of Lucrece but was

published with the title Lucrece. The Rape of Lucrece was substituted as a title at a laterdate. The Rape of Lucrece is a narrative poem resembling a revenge tragedy with 1,855

lines.

The Phoenix and the Turtle Poem

In 1601 a very fine poem subsequently titled The Phoenix and the Turtle appeared

untitled as one of the Poetical Essays appended to Robert Chester's Love's Martyr: or

Rosalind's Complaint. It was attributed to William, and many scholars have accepted the

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poem as genuine. The date of composition of the poem is unknown, but this poem must

be a more mature work.

The Passionate Pilgrim Poems

The Passionate Pilgrime (1599) was a poetry collection containing twenty poems by

various poets. The title page to the second edition contains the ascription "By W.Shakespeare" but only five of the poems appear to be his. The poems, or Sonnets 138 and

144, despite the "never before imprinted" claim of "a Booke called Shakespeares

sonnettes", were included, albeit in a slightly different format, in The Passionate Pilgrimpoem.