Shakespeare A to Z | Venus and Adonis

The narrative poem Venus and Adonis was probably Shakespeare’s first printed work, although it was probably not his first composition. Published in 1593, it was most likely written between the summer of 1592 and the spring of 1593, when London’s theaters were closed due to an outbreak of plague*. The poem is based on a story from the Metamorphoses, a collection of tales by the ancient Roman poet OVID that was very popular with Elizabethan readers.

*plague: highly contagious and often fatal disease; also called the Black Death

Venus and...

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