Shakespeare’s Sonnets Among His Private Friends
The most readable edition of The Sonnets available. This book looks at The Sonnets through the story they tell of the relationships between the poet and his two loves. In addition to the usual explanation of difficult words and passages, the editor asks questions about what’s going on that don’t always have simple answers but add depth and intrigue to the story.
“His sugared sonnets among his private friends.” That’s how Shakespeare’s Sonnets were described in the only contemporary reference to them in 1598 when they were most likely circulated in manuscript, eleven years before they appeared in print. Atkins invites you to imagine that you are among the friends our poet has allowed to see his new sonnets. You’ll read the poems and the discussion of each one, and together try to figure out the story. See what it might have been like to read Shakespeare’s Sonnets “among his private friends.”
An indispensable book for any student of Shakespeare!
Published by Small Latin Press.
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Check out the FREE online companion to this book for a metrical analysis of all 154 poems. This unique resource is not available anywhere else.
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Shakespeare scholar Carl D. Atkins’s book…reimagines the way that readers learn about the Bard’s sonnets. Atkins treats readers as if they are part of Shakespeare’s friend group, sharing each sonnet followed by his written explanation of their meaning and possible storylines…Through Atkins’s commentary, readers see the love triangles Shakespeare intertwined into his works, how he strayed from typical gender roles of 16th-century men and women, and his use of meter to enhance his writing’s emotions.