Overview

This book provides readers with the tools to unravel the complexities of one of the most difficult sonnet sequences, introducing them to the literary tradition, themes, stylistic features and cultural contexts of the genre and the collection, and offering close readings of more than 100 sonnets. This combined approach enables readers not only to disentangle the complex relationships of the poems’ characters but also to appreciate their philosophical, sensual, topical and subversive qualities. Of the book’s two sections, the first, ‘Contexts and Forms’, includes chapters on the sonnet tradition, early publication history, the structural features of the sequence and the Shakespearean sonnet, as well as the main characteristics of the dramatis personae. The second section, ‘Themes’, consists of 5 chapters and explores the theme clusters that can be identified throughout the sequence (preservation, writing, desire, deception, imagination). Additional features of the book include a step-by-step approach to a Shakespeare sonnet, a model interpretation of a sonnet, as well as charts and tables identifying and summarizing the sequence’s mini-narratives, groups, addressees and themes. For easy reference, the sonnets discussed in the book are cross-referenced and listed in the index, which also includes key terms and names of works and people. Suggestions for further reading are provided at the end of each chapter, and the annotated bibliography includes brief descriptions of the most useful works for further study.

Full Product Details

9781350382879

Table of Contents

Reviews

""'Shakespeare's Sonnets dazzle' begins Roland Weidle's excellent book on these brilliant but also difficult poems. To read his Comprehensive Guide is to see them come into steadier focus. Weidle illuminates the aesthetic, historical, dramatic and topical aspects of the Sonnets, as well as how they have been understood in past and present criticism. This is a supremely useful book, but it is also much more than a crib or a primer. Reading the Sonnets comprehensively turns out to involve actively participating in their subtle and shifting meaning-making processes, and with real implications for big subjects such as desire, gender and race."" --Ewan Fernie, The Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham, UK ""Roland Weidle's book is everything an introduction should be: richly informative, clearly structured and lucidly written. An excellent guide to the texts and contexts of Shakespeare's sonnets, it unravels their complexities in a way that will appeal to both students and experts. Highly recommended."" --Andreas Höfele, University of Munich, Germany

'Shakespeare’s Sonnets dazzle' begins Roland Weidle’s excellent book on these brilliant but also difficult poems. To read his Comprehensive Guide is to see them come into steadier focus. Weidle illuminates the aesthetic, historical, dramatic and topical aspects of the Sonnets, as well as how they have been understood in past and present criticism. This is a supremely useful book, but it is also much more than a crib or a primer. Reading the Sonnets comprehensively turns out to involve actively participating in their subtle and shifting meaning-making processes, and with real implications for big subjects such as desire, gender and race. * Ewan Fernie, The Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham, UK * Roland Weidle’s book is everything an introduction should be: richly informative, clearly structured and lucidly written. An excellent guide to the texts and contexts of Shakespeare’s sonnets, it unravels their complexities in a way that will appeal to both students and experts. Highly recommended. * Andreas Höfele, University of Munich, Germany *

Author Information

Roland Weidle is Professor of English Literature at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany. He was Vice-President of the Deutsche Shakespeare-Gesellschaft from 2011 to 2023. His publications include two monographs on Shakespeare and the textbook Early Modern English Literature: An Introduction (2013) (German).

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