Dubuque Shakespeare Project - Narrative Poems

Join Sunil Malapati as the Dubuque Shakespeare Project holds discussions regarding Shakespeare's tragedies and comedies.

Shakespeare’s first published work Venus and Adonis is a lyrical tale of goddess Venus being infatuated with and pursuing the youthful hunter Adonis. The narrative is witty and erotic with supporting tangential stories of animals. The other long narrative poem The Rape of Lucrece is more somber and portrays the lust of Tarquin and the subsequent shame experienced by Lucrece devoting very few lines to the rape itself. Lucrece’s lament takes up nearly half the poem with the fallout action restricted to a few stanzas at the end. Both poems end in tragedy for the pursued, but with consequential results beyond them.

For more information go to the Dubuque Shakespeare Project page.