The Art of Shakespeare's SonnetsIn detailed commentaries on Shakespeare's 154 sonnets, Vendler reveals previously unperceived imaginative and stylistic features of the poems, pointing out not only new levels of import in particular lines, but also the ways in which the four parts of each sonnet work together to enact emotion and create dynamic effect. The commentaries - presented alongside the complete text of each poem, as printed in the 1609 edition and in a modernized version - offer fresh perspectives on the individual poems, and, taken together, provide a full picture of Shakespeare's techniques as a working poet. With the help of Vendler's acute eye, we gain an appreciation of "Shakespeare's elated variety of invention, his ironic capacity, his astonishing refinement of technique, and, above all, the reach of his skeptical imaginative intent." Vendler's understanding of the sonnets informs her readings on an accompanying compact disk, which is bound with the book. This recorded presentation of a selection of the poems, in giving aural form to Shakespeare's words, heightens our awareness of voice in lyric and adds the dimension of sound to poems too often registered merely as written words. |
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aesthetic amphibrachic appearance beauty's beloved beloved's Booth canker chiasmus chiastic chiastic structure conceit contrast couplet Couplet Tie death deeds DEFECTIVE KEY WORD discourse dost doth enact eternal eyes fair false faults fear felfe flowers fweet give grace hate hath haue heart invention line 14 liue live logical look loue love's lover lyric metaphor mind mistress moral Muse nature night octave phonetic phrase play poem poet's poetic praise present proverb Q₁ Q₂ Quarto spelling quatrain question reader represents rhetorical rhyme rival poet rose seems sequence sestet sexual Shakespeare Shakespeare's Sonnets shame sight sonnet 12 sonnet 20 sonnet 54 sonnet 73 sonnet 9 soul speak speaker speech-act suggests sweet synecdoche syntactic thee thine things thou art thought Time's tion true truth turn verb verbal verse woman worth young man's youth