Alphonse Keasley

Explains that Shakespeare's poetry taps into all aspects of human nature. Traces the early life of the Bard and the influence of his classical education in the creation of Venus and Adonis and the Rape of Lucrece. In contrast, the Shakespearean sonnet is viewed as a personal rather than a public construction. The rhyming and thematic structure of the Italian, Petrachian, sonnet is compared to Shakespeare's "English" sonnet. "The Phoenix and the Turtle",...