Complete Sonnets and Poems The Oxford Shakespeare The Complete Sonnets and Poems

The Oxford ShakespeareGeneral Editor Stanley WellsThe Oxford Shakespeare offers authoritative texts from leading scholars in editions designed to interpret and illuminate the works for modern readers- a new, modern-spelling text, collated and edited from all existing printings- on-page and facing-page commentary and notes explain language and allusions- detailed introductions consider the sonnets' biographical and literary background, how the poems relate to the plays, dating and textual matters, and the mysteries of 'Mr W. H.' and the 'Dark Lady'- includes poems attributed to Shakespeare in the seventeenth century- full index to introductions and commentary- durable sewn binding for lasting use'not simply a better text but a new conception of Shakespeare. This is a major achievement of twentieth-century scholarship.' Times Literary Supplement

List of Illustrations
Introduction
Shakespeare the Poet
Venus and Adonis
Publication and Date of Composition
Dedication
Literary Milieu

Lucrece
Publication and Date of Composition
The Argument, Sources, and Politics
Reading (in) Lucrece
Rape and Consent

The Passionate Pilgrim
'Let the bird of loudest lay'
Shakespeare's Sonnets
Publication and Circulation
Dedication
Date and Sequence
Sources
Reading the Sonnets

A Lover's Complaint
Date and Attribution
The Poem and its Context

Poems Attributed to Shakespeare in the Seventeenth Century
'Shall I die?'
A Funeral Elegy

Editorial Procedures
Abbreviations and References

VENUS AND ADONIS
LUCRECE
THE PASSIONATE PILGRIM

'LET THE BIRD OF LOUDEST LAY'
SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS
A LOVER'S COMPLAINT

Appendix
Poems Attributed to Shakespeare in the Seventeenth Century

Index
Index of First Lines