Jul 25, 2008

Shakespeare's Work | The Poems

Venus and Adonis
Venus and Adonis, which Shakespeare called "the first heir of my invention," was, during his lifetime, the most popular of his works. Printed by the poet's fellow Stratfordian Richard Field and dedicated to the young nobleman Henry Wriothesley, earl of Southampton, it went through ten editions by 1616 and six more by 1640. It is an erotic mythological poem, imitative of Ovid; the other important example of the type is Christopher Marlowe's Hero and Leander, which is nearly contemporary with it.

Shakespeare's poem was published in the spring of...