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The Art of Shakespeare’s Sonnets

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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Helen Vendler, a leading poetry critic, offers a detailed analysis of Shakespeare's 154 sonnets. Through insightful commentaries and modernised texts, she uncovers new imaginative and stylistic aspects, revealing how each sonnet's structure and language evoke deep emotion and artistic effect. This work provides a comprehensive appreciation of Shakespeare's poetic craft and creative ingenuity.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$10400

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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book is ideal for students, scholars, and enthusiasts of Shakespeare and poetry looking to deepen their understanding of the sonnets' complex artistry and emotional resonance.

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In commentaries on Shakespeare's 154 sonnets, Vendler reveals 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.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Helen Vendler, widely regarded as our most accomplished interpreter of poetry, serves here as an incomparable guide to some of the best-loved poems in the English language.

In detailed commentaries on Shakespeare's 154 sonnets, Vendler reveals previously unperceived imaginative and stylistic features of the poems. She points 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 original and modernized texts—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.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780674637122

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 01 November 1999

Country: United States

Imprint: The Belknap Press

Audience: Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 30.0mm

Width: 165.0mm

Height: 254.0mm

Weight: 998g

Pages: 696

About the Author

Helen Vendler (1933–2024) was a leading poetry critic and the author of nineteen books on poets from William Shakespeare to Seamus Heaney. A winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism, she contributed regularly to the New Yorker, the New York Review of Books, the New York Times Book Review, London Review of Books, and the New Republic. She was the Arthur Kingsley Porter University Professor at Harvard University.

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