Shakespeare's Work | Shakespeare's Professional Career: Poet and Playwright
We do not know precisely when Shakespeare went to London from Stratford or when he was first employed by a dramatic company. We do know that one of his first professional ambitions was to publish nondramatic poetry. His narrative poems Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece were published in 1593 and 1594 by the printer Richard Field, son of a Stratford associate of Shakespeare's father, and were dedicated to the earl of Southampton. Both were carefully seen through the press. Never again, during his productive lifetime, would Shakespeare take such care with the publication...
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