The Poems (Bantam Classic)
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Review
'Shakespeare scholars will be indebted to the editors not only for fine textual and editorial work but also for a number of astute interpretations.'
--Project Muse (2009)
--Project Muse (2009)
Gregory Doran
Quite the most insightful, thorough and authoritative account of Shakespeare's great narrative poems that you could imagine.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
Every other volume in the Arden series is devoted to a single work. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Every other volume in the Arden series is devoted to a single work. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In some respects I think it'd be rather presumptuous of me to attempt to review Shakespeare. Someone so well known and influential wouldn't benefit from my opinions on their work, plus there are more scholarly and concise reviews out there. But I can comment on these Arden versions. Of all the Shakespeare I've read I've always found the Arden copies to be well laid out and to have excellent commentary and notes on the text. They really add to your understanding of Shakespeares outstanding plays and introduce you to the depth in his work. They have superb paper quality and are bound well, withstanding repeated readings and intensive study. For your collection of Shakespeare you can't do much better than Arden publications, some are quite hard to get hold of but it's worth the effort.
Feel free to check out my blog which can be found on my profile page.
Feel free to check out my blog which can be found on my profile page.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
In the opinion of the two editors of this volume (Katherine Duncan-Jones and HR Woudhuysen) Shakespeare's narrative poems are 'the most neglected items in the Shakespeare canon'. Ironically, it was as poet rather than dramatist that Shakespeare made his name, and both 'Venus and Adonis' and 'The Rape of Lucrece' were immediate 'hits' with Elizabethan readers. As advocates of the poems, the editors of this 3rd edition Arden hope to attract a new generation of enthusiastic readers. (The previous editor, HT Prince was, by contrast, one of their many detractors.) The expectation here, moreover, is that these new readers will make up their own minds about the arguments being presented, rather than, simply, being passive recipients of scholarly wisdom - a laudably democratic ideal characteristic of Arden3.
But what of the arguments? The poems are presented as works which offer things that the plays either cannot or do not: a more comprehensive anatomising of inner mental states and a stronger affinity with the visual arts. However, the Introduction's attempt to link Shakespeare with Renaissance painting - even going as far as to suggest that he had an acquaintance with art theory - lacks concrete evidence. Assertions like 'He could ... have seen an example of an Italian painted battle scene in a nobleman's house', seem over-speculative, an impression that is reinforced by the next sentence: 'Such access is not implausible.' Not implausible, perhaps, but not entirely convincing, either.
One of the real strengths of Duncan-Jones' previous Arden edition (Shakespeare's Sonnets, 1997) was its richly insightful analysis of the sequence. Its section on numerological significance was, I thought, profound and persuasive. She makes a similar attempt here (for Duncan-Jones' hand played the greater part in the Introduction, we learn; Woudhuysen's in the Commentary). She considers that the total number of stanzas in 'Venus' - 199 - is suggestive of incompleteness, while the poem's exact mid-point, with Adonis atop Venus but refusing to consummate, has special importance because of its pivotal positioning. Were Elizabethan readers so alert as to pick up on such mathematical and structurally abstruse matters? Possibly, but again the arguments seem more hopeful than convincing here.
Yet this Introduction has its own undoubted strengths. It is particularly successful in placing the poems in their historical context (plague-ridden London, in the case of the 1593-4 narrative poems). As one of the most recent (2007) additions to the Arden series, this edition is able to refer to such events as Greg Doran's critically acclaimed 2004 'Venus and Adonis: A Masque for Puppets' production at The Other Place, Stratford, as well as influential criticism from the first decade of the C21, in which (often) feminist writers have helped to restore Shakespeare's non-dramatic work to the limelight.
Yet again, then, it is Arden that sets the standard. This third edition represents a significant advance on the second and is currently unrivalled as a comprehensive guide to this hitherto neglected facet of the Shakespeare canon (and apocrypha).
But what of the arguments? The poems are presented as works which offer things that the plays either cannot or do not: a more comprehensive anatomising of inner mental states and a stronger affinity with the visual arts. However, the Introduction's attempt to link Shakespeare with Renaissance painting - even going as far as to suggest that he had an acquaintance with art theory - lacks concrete evidence. Assertions like 'He could ... have seen an example of an Italian painted battle scene in a nobleman's house', seem over-speculative, an impression that is reinforced by the next sentence: 'Such access is not implausible.' Not implausible, perhaps, but not entirely convincing, either.
One of the real strengths of Duncan-Jones' previous Arden edition (Shakespeare's Sonnets, 1997) was its richly insightful analysis of the sequence. Its section on numerological significance was, I thought, profound and persuasive. She makes a similar attempt here (for Duncan-Jones' hand played the greater part in the Introduction, we learn; Woudhuysen's in the Commentary). She considers that the total number of stanzas in 'Venus' - 199 - is suggestive of incompleteness, while the poem's exact mid-point, with Adonis atop Venus but refusing to consummate, has special importance because of its pivotal positioning. Were Elizabethan readers so alert as to pick up on such mathematical and structurally abstruse matters? Possibly, but again the arguments seem more hopeful than convincing here.
Yet this Introduction has its own undoubted strengths. It is particularly successful in placing the poems in their historical context (plague-ridden London, in the case of the 1593-4 narrative poems). As one of the most recent (2007) additions to the Arden series, this edition is able to refer to such events as Greg Doran's critically acclaimed 2004 'Venus and Adonis: A Masque for Puppets' production at The Other Place, Stratford, as well as influential criticism from the first decade of the C21, in which (often) feminist writers have helped to restore Shakespeare's non-dramatic work to the limelight.
Yet again, then, it is Arden that sets the standard. This third edition represents a significant advance on the second and is currently unrivalled as a comprehensive guide to this hitherto neglected facet of the Shakespeare canon (and apocrypha).
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Cozy format, missing sonnets
4 Jun 2011
Format:Hardcover
This is an overall lovely compilation of Shakespeare's non-dramatic works. It's the perfect size to throw in a purse, or keep on a nightstand. The format and font are comfortable and inviting, although the sonnets are not identified by number in any way.
I do want to point out one short-fall, however. I have committed many sonnets to memory before owning this particular book and was looking one up to double-check I line I couldn't quite remember when I realized this one was missing. After a thorough sonnet-by-sonnet checking I discovered that this edition has left out 19 of the 154 sonnets. To be exact, the missing sonnets are numbers 16, 24, 25, 31, 37, 42,45,59, 80, 108, 122, 125, 134, 136, 139, 143, 148, 150, and 154.
I appreciate the inclusion of the narrative poems and some songs, but buyer beware that you will not have a complete collection of the sonnets.
I do want to point out one short-fall, however. I have committed many sonnets to memory before owning this particular book and was looking one up to double-check I line I couldn't quite remember when I realized this one was missing. After a thorough sonnet-by-sonnet checking I discovered that this edition has left out 19 of the 154 sonnets. To be exact, the missing sonnets are numbers 16, 24, 25, 31, 37, 42,45,59, 80, 108, 122, 125, 134, 136, 139, 143, 148, 150, and 154.
I appreciate the inclusion of the narrative poems and some songs, but buyer beware that you will not have a complete collection of the sonnets.
9 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Shakespeare's Poetry
3 May 2001
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This book is fantastic! You get Venus and Adonis (erotic love poem), Rape of Lucrece (roman rape poem), Lover's Complaint (about the dangers of Love), Phoenix and the Turtle (symbolic of Love and Faith), and of course 154 lovely SONNETS.
David Bevington's introductions are short and informative; the footnotes are there for guidance and do not interfere with the text. A wonderful text. Buy it and take it to the beach.
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