Rating: 
Summary: Good, portable edition
Review: A colleague advised that I assign my college students this edition, and I am glad she did. Rather than reading the few anthologized works together with some handouts, students now own the entire set. For anyone not familiar with Shakespeare's 154 sonnets, this gives an affordable and portable version. For anyone familiar with the works, this book offers them in a beautifully light, compressed format that itself enhances rereading and re-interpretation. The book begins with a helpful one-page background on the sonnet form and on Shakespeare's collection, and ends with an also-helpful alphabetical list of first lines. The two-page glossary of terms at the end may be too little, too late, but the drawbacks of Dover's edition--its lack of notes and its use of roman numerals to number the poems--pale compared with the book's availability. As an enthusiast myself--someone who studied at the Shakespeare Institute, England, writing a 310-page thesis on the Bard--I feel grateful to be able to help others to such an inexpensive and pleasant way to own and explore Shakespeare's entire collection of sonnets. Because I could skim the poems in sequence so quickly and easily with this edition, the interrelationships among Sonnets 113, 114, 115, and the famous 116, "Let me not to the marriage of true minds," for example, struck me in a new way as I reread them in this little book. A highly- recommended edition.
Rating:
Summary: Shakespeare, what more can I say
Review: Although I had read a number of Shakespeare's sonnets in both high school and college, I did not know I would find so much satisfaction out of his complete sonnets. The beloved of Shakespeare is truly preserved through each of these tightly constructed poems. I think this is a must read for young and old alike as the themes, symbols, and ideas encapsulated in these sonnets have guided the course of the Enlgish Langauge as we know it. Profound.
Rating:
Summary: I have nothing fo add
Review: I am not a native english speaker, but through Shakespeare's I have become one. For Sure.
Rating: 
Summary: Left me lost - till I got a better edition
Review: My English major friends kept raving about the sonnets, so I finally decided to spend a buck to get this least expensive edition. It was kind of interesting. I could tell that Shakespeare was really intense about his issues - but I was lost as to why everybody was so crazy about them. I also did not like having paper that was so thin that my highlighting and notes went right through to ruin the other side of the page :(Finally I spent another buck to get an (almost as inexpensive) edition (used) - the Signet edition edited by Burto. That helped a lot - with definitions of terms and hints about lots of secret relationships possibly there for those who would dig further. At last I'm starting to figure out why this guy is considered so awesome. To really get an appreciation of Shake's heart and mind, beginners like me really need more than just the poems. Now I'm borrowing an English major's copy of Dr. Vendler's edition (Art of Shakespeare's Sonnets). It's pretty heady, so I'm just trying to read her introduction. Whew! I haven't tested out all her theories, but is so much incredible care and complexity going on behind the scenes in these poems - it's no wonder people are still boggled after 400 years. Truly amazing - but unless you're an English major I wouldn't recommend bothering with this doubtful dollar deed. Getting a copy of the Signet or Folger Library editions will make beginners much happier.
Rating:
Summary: Left me lost - till I got a better edition
Review: My English major friends kept raving about the sonnets, so I finally decided to spend a buck to get this least expensive edition. It was kind of interesting. I could tell that Shakespeare was really intense about his issues - but I was lost as to why everybody was so crazy about them. I also did not like having paper that was so thin that my highlighting and notes went right through to ruin the other side of the page :( Finally I spent another buck to get an (almost as inexpensive) edition (used) - the Signet edition edited by Burto. That helped a lot - with definitions of terms and hints about lots of secret relationships possibly there for those who would dig further. At last I'm starting to figure out why this guy is considered so awesome. To really get an appreciation of Shake's heart and mind, beginners like me really need more than just the poems. Now I'm borrowing an English major's copy of Dr. Vendler's edition (Art of Shakespeare's Sonnets). It's pretty heady, so I'm just trying to read her introduction. Whew! I haven't tested out all her theories, but is so much incredible care and complexity going on behind the scenes in these poems - it's no wonder people are still boggled after 400 years. Truly amazing - but unless you're an English major I wouldn't recommend bothering with this doubtful dollar deed. Getting a copy of the Signet or Folger Library editions will make beginners much happier.
Rating: 
Summary: This gives frustration rather than savings
Review: Not one of America's best gifts to England :( - -
A couple bucks more for the Signet or Folger editions will help you so much more to appreciate our Bard. (or... if you're a Brit, the "New Penguin" edition is a great way to go).
Like Steve says, you'll get NO help (or love) from this *thrift* edition.
Rating:
Summary: This gives frustration rather than savings
Review: Not one of America's best gifts to England :( - -
A couple bucks more for the Signet or Folger editions will help you so much more to appreciate our Bard. (or... if you're a Brit, the "New Penguin" edition is a great way to go).
Like Steve says, you'll get NO help (or love) from this *thrift* edition.
Rating:
Summary: This gives frustration rather than savings
Review: Not one of America's best gifts to England :( - -
A couple bucks more for the Signet or Folger editions will help you so much more to appreciate our Bard. (or... if you're a Brit, the "New Penguin" edition is a great way to go).
Like Steve says, you'll get NO help (or love) from this *thrift* edition.
Rating:
Summary: You can't go wrong
Review: Shakespeare's sonnets are contained in this very, very cheap edition, making them not only accessible but portable. What else can you ask for? The Dover Thrift is a great series, you can get most major works in literature for rock-bottom prices, and in this case, I spent a buck on the complete sonnets of Shakespeare, how can you beat that?
Rating:
Summary: Sonnet editions VARY so greatly in quality
Review: Shakespeare? Not all that bears his name deserves it. No longer alive to protect it, "Shakespeare" may be claimed by any publisher wishing to boost sales through a (...) edition. From Dover, for example, we have: Paper that is (...) newsprint. Editing that is unreliable and anonymous. A complete blank where we need annotation with definitions of Elizabethan words. A sure way to dash a new student's appreciation for Shakespeare. You won't spend much on a Dover edition, but 100% (okay: 99%) of it will be wasted. For more thorough suggestions on finding a REWARDING edition of the Bard's great love poetry, see the comparative review at the BN edition of the sonnets: ISBN 088029941X You owe it to any thoughtful mind, to any open heart... to offer a taste of the grandeur of Shakespeare's Sonnets. There ARE wonderful editions in print to begin the feast. Unfortunately, even more numerous are the disappointing travesties that have been attractively bound and foisted on unsuspecting newcomers to Shakespeare. Caveat emptor. NOTE: Because of Amazon(.com)'s way of linking reviews, it is difficult to know to which edition the reviewers below (if not providing an ISBN) refer.
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