About this item
William Shakespeare is ubiquitous throughout the Western world as the master of the written word, and the above-quoted "Sonnet 18" is celebrated as one of the most exquisite love poems of all time. Love comes in all forms - friendly, familial, unrequited, and lustful - and impressively, the bard's canon works with them all. His views on love - whether they be amorous and passionate or obsessive and unsettling - are provocative to the mind and imagination. The modern reader will recognize poignant turns of phrase; though still used today, they originated from Shakespeare - known for inventing much of the modern English vocabulary. Shakespeare on Love draws from the entire Shakespeare canon: love sonnets, plays, and songs. Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and countless others all have their place.
About the Author
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". His surviving works, including some collaborations, consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire and was baptised on 26 April 1564. Thought to have been educated at the local grammar school, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he went on to have three children, at the age of eighteen, before moving to London to work in the theatre. Two erotic poems, Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece were published in 1593 and 1594 and records of his plays begin to appear in 1594 for Richard III and the three parts of Henry VI. Shakespeare's tragic period lasted from around 1600 to 1608, during which period he wrote plays including Hamlet and Othello. The first editions of the sonnets were published in 1609 but evidence suggests that Shakespeare had been writing them for years for a private readership.Shakespeare spent the last five years of his life in Stratford, by now a wealthy man. He died on 23 April 1616 and was buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. The first collected edition of his works was published in 1623.(The portrait details: The Chandos portrait, artist and authenticity unconfirmed. NPG1, National Portrait Gallery, London)
