3 Review(s)

The Poetry of William Shakespeare includes Shakespeare’s sonnets in complete along with his longer poems Venus and Adonis, The Rape of Lucrece, and A Lover’s Complaint. The book includes a detailed critical introduction and extensive notes by George Wyndham. It throws light on the background of the writing of some of the greatest and most passionate verse in the English language. Shakespeare was not only naturally learned but also a born poet. Whether he is dealing with sorrow or joy, with love or beauty, with time or death, with nature or human qualities, he provides us with specimens of superb poetry which is the hallmark of his unique touch and which is the most valuable guide for identifying his texts. One can find the charm of scores of lovely songs and lyrics and the pathos of many dirges scattered here and there in the plays of Shakespeare which contain passages of great poetic power in the dialogues and speeches. In such passages more than craftsmanship is involved—they take us to the heart of the thing described or to its mystery; when Shakespeare describes something, we more than see it. Though Shakespeare was a dramatist par excellence, he was essentially a great poet and it is to his poetry that his plays owe their greatness. While the earlier critics approached his plays through his characters, the modern scholars lay stress on his poetry. This book will be of great value for the students of Shakespeare’s poetry and lovers of poetry in general.