| Description |
viii, 240 pages ; 23 cm |
| Summary |
"Of Shakespeare's sonnets we know many details but little of their subjects and motives. This book delineates the customs and beliefs that shaped the sonnets, Shakespeare's life and world, and considers them in that context. This book argues for understanding the sonnets in their time, as this poet's edgy expression of the edgy culture of the English Renaissance"--Provided by publisher. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 227-236) and index. |
| Contents |
Acknowledgments -- Preface -- Introduction -- Section 1 : "This powerful rhyme" -- 1. Mirrors of courtesy -- 2. Educating the courtier -- 3. Love, or literary credential? -- 4. In the shadow of abundance -- 5. Dedicated words -- 6. He that buys must sell -- 7. Thy true-telling friend -- 8. From form to feeling -- Section 2 : "A man right fair" -- 9. Before homosexuality -- 10. The king loved him well -- 11. Marriages and men -- 12. "Eternal lines" : marriage or poetry? -- 13. "Being your slave" -- 14. Friendship and its flatteries -- 15. But did they have sex? -- Seciton 3 : "A woman coloured ill" -- 16. Gynerasty -- 17. Saucy jacks -- 18. Weaker vessels -- 19. A reproach of their own -- 20. The black mistress : a Renaissance common place -- 21. More perjured I? -- 22. "The expense of spirit" -- 23. Fair is foul -- 24. Sonnet 20 : a reprise -- Seciton 4 : "So long lives this" -- 25. The sonnets today -- 26. From "sweet boy" to "sweet love" -- 27. "Piteous constraint to read such stuff" -- 28. A lover and a man -- 29. The science of sonnets -- 30. Wilde sonnets -- 31. Love poetry at last -- Coda : Universal Shakespeare? -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index. |
| Subject |
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. Sonnets.
|
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Sonnets, English -- History and criticism.
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Sonnets, English. |
| ISBN |
9780786432196 paperback alkaline paper |
|
0786432195 paperback alkaline paper |
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