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Rating: 
Summary: A terrific collection.
Review: "Venus and Adonis" is Shakespeare's first published work, 199 stanzas of sesta rima (a quatran with a couplet) with an ababcc rhyme scheme. Venus chases and detains Adonis to woo him but does not win his love. In fact, Adonis actually rejects her love. He goes off to hunt and is soon killed by a boar. The poem has eloquent set speeches and beautiful landscapes. "The Rape of Lucrece" is Shakespeare's epic poem in rhyme royal of the story of the rape of a Roman lady which led to the overthrow of Tarquin rule in Rome and the establishment of the Republic. "The Phoenix and the Turtle" is a short (67 lines) allegorical elegy. "The Passionate Pilgrim" is a collection of twenty poems, only five of which are clearly by Shakespeare (although a few others may be as well). Number XI is possibly by Bartholemew Griffin. Numbers VIII and XX are by Richard Barnefield (and possibly No. XIX). The well-known No. XIX is probably by Christopher Marlow. The last stanza to XIX is by Sir Walter Raleigh. "Sonnets to Sundry Notes of Music" is the title to the second part of "The Passionate Pilgrim." And, "A Lover's Complaint" is a poem in rhyme-royal (ababbcc) about a maiden who complains of her seduction by an unworthy young man.
Rating:
Summary: Fine editing, fine printing of the NARRATIVE poems
Review: Another example of excellence from "The New Cambridge Shakespeare (NCS)". NOTE, however, that this volume presents exclusively what is usually lumped as "The narrative poems" - i.e., it does NOT include the full set of sonnets ( which appear in a separately edited volume of the NCS series). As a value to the student/customer, therefore is this tradeoff: NCS covers here a smaller portion of the Shakespeare canon than the alternative from Oxford (ed. by Colin Burron, 2002, ISBN 019281933X ), but NCS can therefore offer larger typeface; larger and better quality paper. In this NCS edition, editor Roe provides helpful background material on each of the poems [Venus, Lucrece, Phoenix & Turtle, Lover's Complaint, and Passionate Pilgrim (*partially* attributable to Shakspeare) ]. The length and depth of discussion of each poem's introduction is not as great as one usually finds for an edition of, say, The Sonnets; but these poems have not stirred so much controversy or confusion either among the reading public or in academic analysis. The poems are (at least on the surface) much more readable and "accessible" to the general reader than are the sonnets. Roe's thorough annotations on each page of text clarify unusual or ambiguous words; they also raise intriguing issues about Shakespeare's art and agenda in suggestive writing with multiple levels of meaning. Both this NCS edition by Roe and the Burrow Oxford edition were released too early to benefit from fascinating new insights into the ever-puzzling bantam of this flock: The Phoenix and the Turtle. For the compelling evidence that this long-locked enigma of the canon is an eulogy to two Elizabethan Catholic martyrs, the reader will need to turn to a Times Literary Supplement issue from April of this year. For most of the controversies surrounding these poems, I'll risk claiming that there have been few critical revelations between the publication of this excellent 1993 NCS edition and now; so (excepting the 2003 TLS article mentioned above) it remains satisfyingly current. For reading pleasure and thoughtful study of these masterpieces, I think you'll be most pleased to own this Cambridge edtion.
Rating:
Summary: Fine editing, fine printing of the NARRATIVE poems
Review: Another example of excellence from "The New Cambridge Shakespeare (NCS)". NOTE, however, that this volume presents exclusively what is usually lumped as "The narrative poems" - i.e., it does NOT include the full set of sonnets ( which appear in a separately edited volume of the NCS series). As a value to the student/customer, therefore is this tradeoff: NCS covers here a smaller portion of the Shakespeare canon than the alternative from Oxford (ed. by Colin Burron, 2002, ISBN 019281933X ), but NCS can therefore offer larger typeface; larger and better quality paper. In this NCS edition, editor Roe provides helpful background material on each of the poems [Venus, Lucrece, Phoenix & Turtle, Lover's Complaint, and Passionate Pilgrim (*partially* attributable to Shakspeare) ]. The length and depth of discussion of each poem's introduction is not as great as one usually finds for an edition of, say, The Sonnets; but these poems have not stirred so much controversy or confusion either among the reading public or in academic analysis. The poems are (at least on the surface) much more readable and "accessible" to the general reader than are the sonnets. Roe's thorough annotations on each page of text clarify unusual or ambiguous words; they also raise intriguing issues about Shakespeare's art and agenda in suggestive writing with multiple levels of meaning. Both this NCS edition by Roe and the Burrow Oxford edition were released too early to benefit from fascinating new insights into the ever-puzzling bantam of this flock: The Phoenix and the Turtle. For the compelling evidence that this long-locked enigma of the canon is an eulogy to two Elizabethan Catholic martyrs, the reader will need to turn to a Times Literary Supplement issue from April of this year. For most of the controversies surrounding these poems, I'll risk claiming that there have been few critical revelations between the publication of this excellent 1993 NCS edition and now; so (excepting the 2003 TLS article mentioned above) it remains satisfyingly current. For reading pleasure and thoughtful study of these masterpieces, I think you'll be most pleased to own this Cambridge edtion.
Rating: 
Summary: Opitcal Illusion
Review: I thought that this could be a bit better as far as Shakespeare books go.
Rating:
Summary: What a great way to go behind the plays
Review: I've always loved the Bard's plays. Something moved me to pick up this copy of his early poems. Man! Really gets you thinking about the themes of love, jealousy, honor that surface throughout the plays! I recommend the introductory material, too -- gives lots of insights into how to ponder Will's motives in publishing early under his own name. But beware: it raises more questions than it answers.
Rating:
Summary: What a great way to go behind the plays
Review: I've always loved the Bard's plays. Something moved me to pick up this copy of his early poems. Man! Really gets you thinking about the themes of love, jealousy, honor that surface throughout the plays! I recommend the introductory material, too -- gives lots of insights into how to ponder Will's motives in publishing early under his own name. But beware: it raises more questions than it answers.
Rating:
Summary: Lucrece is beautiful and ethical, that's her doom !
Review: Shakespeare is at his best in this poem. At his best as for the subject : a raped virtuous wife who cannot go over the stain and cannot even utter the name of the rapist because she does not see his crime first, hence her vengeance second, but she only sees her crime first, hence her punishment second, and she commits suicide in front of everyone. At his best in the contradictions he brings in the treatment of his subject : Lucrece is not able to understand that rape is a crime on the side of the rapist, and not a fault on the side of the victim, but, and there Shakespeare is great, Roman society, and probably English society too, at the time but also today, will not accept her explanation if she does not consider herself as absolutely guilty of the crime she was the victim of. A woman is never accepted as clean and white if she is raped, she keeps some guilt in the eye of society, be it only to have « incited » or « caused » the rape by her being enticing, beautiful and desirable. In this society, the Roman society, but also ours, the woman is always, somewhere, even if she goes to court and gets the rapist in jail, the cause of the crime, hence the one responsible, at least partly, for the crime. Shakespeare does a pretty good job at showing this unescapable dilemma for a woman. And this appears clearly in the treatment of Tarquin's banishment in exactly one concluding line. What is banishment when compared to death in mental torture ? But Shakespeare is also at his best in his poetry, in his poetical style, in his brilliant use of the language to enchant us with music, the music of words, sounds, meanings, and all other musics you can imagine and find in this poem. I will suggest everyone to study in fine details the section going from line 925 to line 1035, what I call the « time » soliloquy. It is absolutely marvellous and brilliant, and what's more, it is extremely modern, even if it is fully Renaissance. On this subject, time, the Renaissance was particularly prolix, even verbose, but Shakespeare rises over time into some eternity by the way he composes the rhythm and the harmony of this brilliant piece. It becomes timeless and should be studied by all people to finally understand that time is cruel but that life is even more cruel if we do not accept to go along and away when necessary with time. Time becomes a friend in a way, and not an enemy because it knows how to liberate you from life, suffering and useless aging when aging does not bring anything any more except torture and humiliating degrading and ever increasing inferiority, declining and vacuity. Dr Jacques CIOULARDEAU
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