In 1592 and 1593, the plague in London was so severe that city officials closed all the theaters to help limit the spread of disease. Shakespeare had already written and performed in several plays, including this list as proposed by the editors of : (1587?) (1590; printed 1594) (1590) (1590–91) (1591?) (1592?) (1592; written by Christopher Marlowe and Shakespeare) With no ability to make money by writing for the stage, Shakespeare likely turned his creative energies to poetry. His early poems and were published by printer Richard Field, who was also from Stratford-upon-Avon. Both poems were based on classical mythology that Shakespeare likely studied in grammar school, so they were familiar subject matter to him and many other literate young men of the age. In an effort to earn recognition and patronage, Shakespeare dedicated both poems to, Henry Wriothesley, the Earl of Southampton.

In 1593, Shakespeare published his first work of poetry, , a sensuous narrative poem about the Roman goddess of love and a mortal man she pursues. It remained his most popular published work, with 10 editions printed by his death in 1616. The poem is 1172 lines long, with 199 six-line stanzas that rhyme ABABCC. It is an epyllion (a minor epic), a poetic form that uses a sophisticated eroticism to explores events from classical legends or myths.

In Shakespeare’s version, Adonis rejects Venus rather than being her willing companion. She attempts to convince him to be her lover while he protests. Shakespeare thus reverses most of the story’s original ideas. The poem’s sixth stanza reads: Over one arm the lusty courser’s rein, Under her other was the tender boy, Who blush’d and pouted in a dull disdain,
 With leaden appetite, unapt to toy; The red and hot as coals of glowing fire, 


He red for shame, but frosty in desire. ( ll. 31-36)

The poem’s popularity meant that it is mentioned by other writers of the time, such as Francis Meres, who commented in 1598 that the sweet witty soul of Ovid lives in mellifluous and honey-tongued Shakespeare, witness his . Thomas Middleton’s play, features a jealous husband named Harebrain who forbids his wife to have a copy of the poem for fear it will incite her lust.

Shakespeare and Classical Curriculum

Boys’ schooling of the time often used classical literature, such as Ovid’s , to teach Latin. Shakespeare would have therefore been very familiar with classical mythology. In Ovid’s version, Venus (the Roman goddess of love) takes a young hunter, Adonis, as one of her many lovers, but he dies in an accident while hunting a boar. She hears his dying groans and hurries down to assist him but she cannot save him. She transforms him into a flower, the anemone. It is one of the many origin stories that Ovid includes in his nearly 12,000 line poem that is divided into 15 sections.

Ovid’s , published in 8 CE, also tells the tale that Shakespeare takes up in his other narrative poem, . Ovid’s poem tells various stories of Roman holidays and customs. The story of Lucrece is part of the tale related to the founding of Rome. Lucrece’s story is the tragic chronicle of a woman widely admired for her chastity who is later brutally assaulted and dies by suicide.

Lucrece

First edition of , 1594. Courtesy of . CC BY-SA 4.0.

In 1594, Shakespeare published , often called . It also retells a tale from Roman mythology, and it was also quite popular, with six editions printed before 1616. It is a 1855 line poem, in 265 rhyme royal stanzas In terms of genre, it is a complaint by Lucrece about her corrupt assailant The assailant Tarquin and his family are stripped of their power Lucrece dies by suicide

Another of Shakespeare’s sources may have included the by the famous historian Livy (59 BCE- 17 CE). Both Ovid’s and Livy’s narratives relate the legendary tale of Lucrece being sexually assaulted by a nobleman, Tarquin.

The character of Lucrece was widely admired in the early modern period as a woman who erases her family’s shame through her death. Chastity was seen in this era as a woman’s primary virtue, and once lost, it could not be regained. The poem’s serious and moralistic tone is exemplified in stanzas such as this one: But she hath lost a dearer thing than life,
 And he hath won what he would lose again:
 This forced league doth force a further strife;
 This momentary joy breeds months of pain;
 This hot desire converts to cold disdain: Pure Chastity is rifled of her store,

 And Lust, the thief, far poorer than before. (, ll. 687-693)

Key Print Sources Ovid.. Translated by Stephanie McCarter. Penguin, 2022. Shakespeare, William. Edited by Francis X. Connor. In . Edited by Gary Taylor, John Jowett, Terri Bourous, and Gabriel Egan. Oxford University Press, 2016, pp. 643-672. Shakespeare, William. Edited by Francis X. Connor. In . Edited by Gary Taylor, John Jowett, Terri Bourous, and Gabriel Egan. Oxford University Press, 2016, pp. 673-721. Shohet, Lauren. . vol. 42, no.1, 2002, pp. 85-98.

Key Online Sources Best, Michael. . . , https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/life/youth/v&a.html. Accessed 25 Feb. 2023. Mowat, Barbara A., and Paul Werstine. . The Folger Shakespeare. https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/venus-and-adonis/about-shakespeares-venus-and-adonis/. Mowat, Barbara A., and Paul Werstine. . The Folger Shakespeare. https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/lucrece/. Shakespeare, William. . . Edited by David Crystal and Ben Crystal. https://www.shakespeareswords.com/Public/About.aspx.

Image Sources . 1593. . . 1594. .