8-2Poetry

 What is Shakespeare’s Body of Work in Poetry? What are his Most Famous Poems? //Answer by Katie M. // 

Shakespeare’s body of work is truly amazing. His work has had so much influence around the world, that even today we are still reading and learning about him, and his writing. His work was pure genius and is still being recognized among others such as John Donne and Ben Johnson. Consider he has also developed words that are still being used today, that certainly shows how strong and powerful his writing was. Shakespeare’s body of poetry is so wide spread, from plays to poems and sonnets to epic narratives.

One of Shakespeare’s most common body of poetry was his sonnets. Sometime in the 1590’s Shakespeare began writing a collection of different sonnets. But, they weren’t published until 1609, although some say that he showed a couple to his friends around 1598. Shakespeare probably chose sonnets because that type of poem was the most popular in England around the time period he started writing. This idea was first formed in Italy and developed in England, when it came to England they started to change things around a little, creating new rules. These sonnets had 14 lines made up of three quatrains and a rhyming couplet at the end.

This allowed the author to create a conflict and then end with something that throws off the whole poem. This is usually found in the rhyming couplet. With these poems being so popular, Shakespeare wrote 154 of them! These 154 are put in three major groups. Sonnets 1-126 deal with a young, unnamed lord who is called the “fair youth” of these sonnets. Sonnets 127-152 are about a poet’s relationship with a mysterious mistress, also known as the “dark lady.” And finally sonnets 153-154 are known for being dedicated to Cupid. Some examples of his more famous shorter sonnets are Sonnet 29- //When In Disgrace With Fortune , Sonnet 18-Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?, //Sonnet 130-My Mistress’ Eyes and Sonnet 126- //O Thou My Lovely Boy. So, as you can see, Shakespeare’s sonnets were really focused in on love, beauty, the effects of time, and mortality. All in all, Shakespeare really wrote a lot of sonnets throughout his lifetime, but that was not the only body of poetry that he wrote in. //  Another body of work that Shakespeare worked on was plays. This is probably the most famous of his poetic writing. Shakespeare wrote 138 plays in his lifetime, all put under four categories. These categories are, pre-1594, 1594-1600, 1600-1608, and post-1608. The first period of his plays have the roots of Roman and mid-evil drama in it. The second period shows more style, as it is about the lives of kings and nobility. The third period was known for his tragedies. Though, his comedies in the third period were known for the literary crossroads, meaning that Shakespeare didn’t have a clear comic resolution with the previous comedies. Some examples of his famous tragedies are Macbeth, King Lear, Othello and Hamlet. And finally in the fourth period romantic tragicomedy shown, this shows Shakespeare at his most symbolic. Tragicomedy is a mixture of comedy and tragedies. And as many know, one of his most famous plays was in this category, Romeo and Juliet. All of these plays are very unique, universal, and interesting. So much hat they still are entertaining people today.   Shakespeare has many great poems and plays but one of his most famous is “Venus and Adonis.” This poem is dedicated to “the first heir of my invention”. The website shakespeareauthorship.com, Oxfordian Myths: “First Heir of My Invention.” believes that this really means, “of my invented name.” This poem is a brief epic that arises comparisons between Marlowe’s Hero and Leander, to which this poems owes some debt to. All different parts both epic an comic take after a story told by Ovid in which a beautiful woman named Venus falls in love with a man named Adonis. But, Shakespeare changed one major thing. In Ovid, Venus plays an irrisistable, tragic goddess who loves Adonis and he loves her back. But, in Shakespeare’s version he changed Venus to a frustrated girl who can’t stop Adonis from hunting. Another famous poem, “The Rape of Lucrece” was published after “Venus and Adonis.” Just like the other poem, Shakespeare took ideas from Ovid and changed little things around in this poem as well. In doing this, Shakespeare took a classical story and twisted it around with humor and heightened formality so it caused it to be some peoples favorites and other least. Overall, Shakespeare is one of the most world renowned poets, who accomplished many great things throughout his life from writing amazing poems to acting in plays! Works Cited:

"Shakespeare's Biography." February 18, 2009 Web.14 Apr 2009. . "Shakespeare's Poetry." February 18, 2009 Web.14 Apr 2009. .

"Shakespeare's Works." February 18, 2009 Web.14 Apr 2009. . Ross, Terry. "Oxfordian Myths: "First heir of My Invention"." Web.14 Apr 2009. <http://shakespeareauthorship.com/heir.html>. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">"William Shakespeare Sonnets." February 18, 2009 Web.14 Apr 2009. <http://www.william-shakespeare.info/william-shakespeare-sonnets.htm>.