Includes bibliographical references (pages 318-328) and indexes.
Contents:
Complaints of the heart. The basic scheme -- Poetic rivalry in Late-Elizabethan England -- A triptych for the third earl -- Competing schemes -- The fair-youth sonnets, Part 1 -- The fair-youth sonnets, Part 2 -- The mistress sonnets -- Complaints of the heart.
Summary:
This book argues the idea that Shakespeare was deeply engaged with other poets and with pursuing a career as a poet, and that the organisational schemes of the Sonnets have been hiding in plain sight for over four centuries. The fundamental reason why his schemes have gone unnoticed is historical: within decades of his death, conventions of sonnet sequences became unfamiliar, and they have largely remained so since. Weaving together ideas of the Sonnets as a free-standing sequence and as a sonnet sequence among other poets' complex sequences, we discover new insights into Shakespeare's career as a poet.-- Publisher website.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.