The Sonnets (Shakespeare, Signet Classic) - Softcover

Shakespeare, William

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0451522621 ISBN 13: 9780451522627

Publisher: Signet Classics, 1964

Synopsis

This new edition focuses on the Sonnets as poetry - sometimes strikingly individual poems, but often subtly interlinked in thematic, imagistic and other groupings. Gwynne Evans and Anthony Hecht also address the many questions that cast a veil of mystery over the genesis of the Sonnets: to what extent are they autobiographical? What is the nature of the 'love', strongly expressed, between the 'poet', the 'youth' and the 'Dark Lady'? Can they, apart from the poet, be identified? Who is the 'rival poet'? When were the Sonnets written and in what order? What were the circumstances surrounding their publication?

About this title

Book Description

Like the plays in the Cambridge School Shakespeare series, The Sonnets has been specially prepared to help all students in schools and colleges. Each sonnet is presented with accompanying material which aims to enrich your own experience of the poem, whilst leaving you to make your own mind up about the sonnet rather than having someone else's interpretation and judgement handed down to you. You will find help with unfamiliar words, with imagery, and with other 'poetic' features, as well as suggestions for practical work.

From the Inside Flap

Shakespeare's sonnets, the greatest of Elizabethan sonnet sequences, were first published in an unauthorized version in 1609. William Shakespeare was then forty-five years old, a successful playwright, a country gentleman, and an affluent member of the Globe, the most important theatrical enterprise in London.
Although the sonnets are among the finest poems in the English language, questions about them have preoccupied scholars for several hundred years. This edition portrays the sonnets in the order and sequence thought to be traditional.
This edition of the sonnets also includes imaginative, flowing illustrations of Charles Robinson. One of the most popular of Edwardian artists, he was acclaimed for his highly original coloring and flights of fantasy. His illustrations add an unusual dimension to the sonnets, which are unequalled in their poetic power, exploration of intimate human relationships, and sensitivity to tragedy of human aspirations.

Edition details

• Publisher: Signet Classics
• Publication date: 1964
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0451522621
• ISBN 13: 9780451522627
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 256
• Editor: Burto William