highly acclaimed.

Olivia Kelleher, Irish Times

I cannot imagine any other single secondary source that could be as useful as this slender volume.

Elizabeth Holtze, Rocky Mountain Review

This is an admirably clear book about obscurity. The authors ask many impossible questions, then satisfy our curiosity while leaving them unanswered. The Sonnets are already opaque as we approach them. The famous introductory dedication to Mr W.H. has inspired volumes of misplaced ingenuity, enough to shadow the poems themselves. Trying to find Mr W.S. inside those 2000 enigmatic lines needs sense, sensibility, time, curiosity, patience and scholarship. Edmondson and Wells have those qualities. Though the centre of the labyrinth is never reached, they are lively and trustworthy guides.

Tom Deveson, Around the Globe

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elegant...This book is excellent on links between theatre and sonnets...The book is also a consideration, even a celebration, of what, precisely, makes Shakespeare's verse so compelling.

TLS

The sonnets are among the most accomplished and fascinating poems in the English language. They are central to an understanding of Shakespeare's work as a poet and poetic dramatist, and while their autobiographical relevance is uncertain, no account of Shakespeare's life can afford to ignore them. So many myths and superstitions have arisen around these poems, relating for example to their possible addressees, to their coherence as a sequence, to their dates of composition, to their relation to other poetry of the period and to Shakespeare's plays, that even the most naïve reader will find it difficult to read them with an innocent mind. Shakespeare's Sonnets dispels the myths and focuses on the poems. Considering different possible ways of reading the Sonnets, Wells and Edmondson place them in a variety of literary and dramatic contexts - in relation to other poetry of the period, to Shakespeare's plays, as poems for performance, and in relation to their reception and reputation. Selected sonnets are discussed in depth, but the book avoids the jargon of theoretical criticism. Shakespeare's Sonnets is an exciting contribution to the Oxford Shakespeare Topics, ideal for students and the general reader interested in these intriguing poems.
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Offers an informative and helpful study of Shakespeare's Sonnets. This book considers questions often raised about them - Do they reflect Shakespeare's personal experience? Can their addressees, male and female, be identified? What do they tell us about Shakespeare's sexuality? How do they relate to the literary tradition?
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1. Introduction ; 2. The Early Publication of the Sonnets ; 3. History and Emergence of the Sonnet as a Literary Form ; 4. The Sonnets in Relation to Shakespeare's Life ; 5. The Form of Shakespeare's Sonnets ; 6. The Artistry of the Sonnets ; 7. Content of the Sonnets ; 8. The Sonnets as Theatre ; 9. The Place of 'A Lover's Complaint' ; 10. Later Publication of the Sonnets ; 11. Critical Reputation of the Sonnets ; 12. Ways in which Writers have Engaged Creatively with the Sonnets ; 13. Survey of More Recent Current Sonnet Criticism Treated Thematically ; 14. Sonnets and Performance ; 15. Conclusion ; 16. Further Reading
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`This is an admirably clear book about obscurity. The authors ask many impossible questions, then satisfy our curiosity while leaving them unanswered. The Sonnets are already opaque as we approach them. The famous introductory dedication to Mr W.H. has inspired volumes of misplaced ingenuity, enough to shadow the poems themselves. Trying to find Mr W.S. inside those 2000 enigmatic lines needs sense, sensibility, time, curiosity, patience and scholarship. Edmondson and Wells have those qualities. Though the centre of the labyrinth is never reached, they are lively and trustworthy guides.' Tom Deveson, Around the Globe `elegant...This book is excellent on links between theatre and sonnets...The book is also a consideration, even a celebration, of what, precisely, makes Shakespeare's verse so compelling.' TLS
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The only book to provide a guide to the Sonnets for students and general readers Selected sonnets are discussed in depth, but the book avoids the jargon of theoretical criticism Professor Stanley Wells is a leading authority on Shakespeare and has written extensively for Oxford University Press
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The only book to provide a guide to the Sonnets for students and general readers Selected sonnets are discussed in depth, but the book avoids the jargon of theoretical criticism Professor Stanley Wells is a leading authority on Shakespeare and has written extensively for Oxford University Press
Read more

Product details

ISBN
9780199256112
Published
2004
Publisher
Oxford University Press; Oxford University Press
Weight
246 gr
Height
204 mm
Width
135 mm
Thickness
12 mm
Age
P, 06
Language
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Number of pages
208