Venus and Adonis
For the story of Shakespeare’s first published work:
Venus and Adonis : the Birth of Shakespeare
The Elizabethan Adonis, Sir Philip Sidney
Henry Wriothesley and Clapham’s Narcissus
Shakespeare’s Patron, Mary Sidney Herbert Countess of Pembroke
John Florio, Thomas Nashe and the Battle over the Legacy of Philip Sidney
I have also posted three essays which explore the language and themes in the text of Venus and Adonis itself:
Venus and Adonis: Shakespeare’s Purple Poem
Venus and Adonis: More white, and red than doves or roses
Venus and Adonis: The Equinoctial Boar and the Easter Flower
Venus and Adonis: the Birth of Shakespeare
An introduction to the first published work of William Shakespeare. The narrative poem Venus and Adonis is distinguished by the beauty of the poetry, the vividness of its imagery and the playfully subversive way that it retells the familiar story from Ovid, and engages with the literary and political currents of 1590s London.
Ovid: the Soul of Shakespeare
Shakespeare used the source, style and perspective of Venus and Adonis to claim the mantle of Ovid with his first published work.
The Elizabethan Adonis, Sir Philip Sidney
In this I consider how the specific story Shakespeare chose from Metamorphoses allowed him to engage the literary scene of 1590s London by invoking the figure and writing of Sir Philip Sidney,
Henry Wriothesley and Clapham’s Narcissus
In previous posts I explored how Shakespeare exploited the literary connections of Venues and Adonis to Ovid and Philip Sidney to claim a position in the literary scene of 1590s London. Today I consider the dedication to Henry Wriothesley, young Earl of Southampton and the relationship to John Clapham’s Narcissus the only prior work dedicated to Wriothe…
Shakespeare’s Patron: Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke
Were that fair body of the sweetest Venus in Print, as it is redoubtedly armed with the complete harness of the bravest Minerva. - She shall no sooner appear in person, like a new Star in Cassiopeia, but every eye of capacity will see a conspicuous difference between her and other mirrors of Eloquence.
John Florio, Thomas Nashe and the Battle over the Legacy of Philip Sidney
I ended my previous post with the intervention of Mary Sidney identified as Harvey’s Gentlewoman Patronesse in his literary pamphlet war with Thomas Nashe as part of a battle over the right to publish and interpret the literary works of her deceased brother Philip, which were initially brought to print through the agency of ex-Pembroke secretary John Fl…