Even as the sun with purple-colour'd faceHad ta'en his last leave of the weeping morn, Rose-cheek'd Adonis hied him to the chase;Hunting he lov'd, but love he laugh'd to scorn; 4Sick-thoughted Venus makes amain unto him, And like a bold-fac'd suitor 'gins to woo him."Thrice fairer than myself," thus she began,"The field's chief flower, sweet above compare, 8Stain to all nymphs, more lovely than a man, More white and red than doves or roses are: Nature that made thee, with herself at strife, Saith that the world hath ending with thy life. 12"Vouchsafe, thou wonder, to alight thy steed, And rein his proud head to the saddle-bow;If thou wilt deign this favour, for thy meedA thousand honey secrets shalt thou know: 16Here come and sit, where never serpent hisses, And being set, I'll smother thee with kisses."And yet not cloy thy lips with loath'd satiety, But rather famish them amid their plenty, 20Making them red, and pale, with fresh variety: Ten kisses short as one, one long as twenty: A summer's day will seem an hour but short, Being wasted in such time-beguiling sport." 24With this she seizeth on his sweating palm, The precedent of pith and livelihood, And trembling in her passion, calls it balm,3Earth's sovereign salve to do a goddess good: 28Being so enrag'd, desire doth lend her forceCourageously to pluck him from his horse.Over one arm the lusty courser's rein, Under her other was the tender boy, 32Who blush'd and pouted in a dull disdain, With leaden appetite, unapt to toy;She red and hot as coals of glowing fire, He red for shame, but frosty in desire. 36The studded bridle on a ragged boughNimbly she fastens;-O! how quick is love!-The steed is stalled up, and even nowTo tie the rider she begins to prove: 40Backward she push'd him, as she would be thrust, And govern'd him in strength, th

"The indispensable critic on the indispensable writer." -Geoffrey O'Brien, New York Review of Books A landmark achievement as expansive, erudite, and passionate as its renowned author, this book is the culmination of a lifetime of reading, writing about, and teaching Shakespeare. Preeminent literary critic-and ultimate authority on the western literary tradition, Harold Bloom leads us through a comprehensive reading of every one of the dramatist's plays, brilliantly illuminating each work with unrivaled warmth, wit and insight. At the same time, Bloom presents one of the boldest theses of Shakespearean scholarships: that Shakespeare not only invented the English language, but also created human nature as we know it today.

One of the most frequently read and performed of all stage works, Shakespeare’s Hamlet is unsurpassed in its complexity and richness. Now the first fully annotated version of Hamlet makes the play completely accessible to readers in the twenty-first century. It has been carefully assembled with students, teachers, and the general reader in mind. Eminent linguist and translator Burton Raffel offers generous help with vocabulary and usage of Elizabethan English, pronunciation, prosody, and alternative readings of phrases and lines. His on-page annotations provide readers with all the tools they need to comprehend the play and begin to explore its many possible interpretations. This version of Hamlet is unparalleled for its thoroughness and adherence to sound linguistic principles. In his Introduction, Raffel offers important background on the origins and previous versions of the Hamlet story, along with an analysis of the characters Hamlet and Ophelia. And in a concluding essay, Harold Bloom meditates on the originality of Shakespeare’s achievement. The book also includes a careful selection of items for “Further Reading.”

Bentley presents the life and working methods of William Shakespeare with the strictest fidelity to the surviving documentation. By presenting the hundred or more surviving Shakespearean documents in the context of similar records, against the background of Elizabethan customs and prejudices, and in relation to one another, he sets up an essential outline of Shakespeare's life.