Shakespeare's Poems

The complete collection of Shakespeare's six poems:


Venus and Adonis

Comic, sensual, bawdy and beautiful, this long poem tells of the desire of Venus, goddess of beauty and love, for the young Adonis, who would much rather be hunting, and its tragic end.


The Rape of Lucrece

Stately and somber, this long poem tells of the desire of Tarquin, Prince of Rome, for the chaste Lucrece, and his rape of her, and of how she comes to kill herself in her shame.


A Lover's Complaint

A young woman, seduced and abandoned by a charming man, rails against his falsity.


The Passionate Pilgrim

Most likely a pirated volume containing variants of some of Shakespeare’s sonnets, along with extracts from Love’s Labor’s Lost and poems by unknown authors, possibly by Shakespeare, others likely not.


The Phoenix and Turtle

An enigmatic poem about the constancy of love between a phoenix (a mythological bird) and a turtledove, likely with allegorical meanings we can no longer understand.


To the Queen

A short poem honoring her majesty, Queen Elizabeth.