Poetry

Name: Poetry
Author: William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

free · 48,834 words · ~3 h read · first published 1609

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Venus and Adonis

“Vilia miretur vulgus; mihi flavus Apollo
Pocula Castalia plena ministret aqua.”

To the
Right Honourable Henry Wriothesley,
Earl of Southampton, and Baron of Titchfield.

Right Honourable,

I know not how I shall offend in dedicating my unpolished lines to your lordship, nor how the world will censure me for choosing so strong a prop to support so weak a burthen: only, if your honour seem but pleased, I account myself highly praised, and vow to take advantage of all idle hours, till I have honoured you with some graver labour. But if the first heir of my invention prove deformed, I shall be sorry it had so noble a godfather, and never after ear so barren a land, for fear it yield me still so bad a harvest. I leave it to your honourable survey, and your honour to your heart’s content; which I wish may always answer your own wish and the world’s hopeful expectation.

restoring your place…

fetching the rest…

More by William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream
You get a play that keeps changing its mind about love, from the quarrelling lovers in the forest to Bottom blundering through his amateur performance. The language is playful and slippery, and Puck gives the whole thing a mischievous sense that human beings are never quite in control.
All’s Well That Ends Well
Helena chases a man who plainly doesn't deserve her, and the play knows it, which is what makes it interesting. If you like your comedies uneasy, with a bed trick and an ending that only half convinces, this one will stick with you.
Antony and Cleopatra
These two aren't young lovers, they're middle-aged, vain, magnificent messes who keep wrecking empires over each other, and you half want to shake them. Stay for Enobarbus, the dry-eyed friend whose barge speech about Cleopatra is worth the whole play.

More by William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

You get a play that keeps changing its mind about love, from the quarrelling lovers in the forest to Bottom blundering through his amateur performance. The language is playful and slippery, and Puck gives the whole thing a mischievous sense that human beings are never quite in control.

All’s Well That Ends Well

Helena chases a man who plainly doesn't deserve her, and the play knows it, which is what makes it interesting. If you like your comedies uneasy, with a bed trick and an ending that only half convinces, this one will stick with you.

Antony and Cleopatra

These two aren't young lovers, they're middle-aged, vain, magnificent messes who keep wrecking empires over each other, and you half want to shake them. Stay for Enobarbus, the dry-eyed friend whose barge speech about Cleopatra is worth the whole play.