Venus and Adonis (Shakespeare Project Lecture) (Patreon)

'Measure my strangeness with my unripe years: Before I know myself, seek not to know me.'

Our journey through the works of William Shakespeare continues with the narrative poem that made the bard famous.

We’re discussing mythology, symbolism, love poetry, desire, sugared sonnets, the natural world, and much more.

Timestamps:

• 0:00 Venus and Adonis as poetic interlude
• 1:17 the structure of this narrative poem
• 2:38 the poem that made Shakespeare famous
• 4:00 on the dedication to Southampton
• 5:40 tension between art & commerce
• 9:00 the language of the sonnets & lyrical plays
• 10:28 on powerful Shakespeare experiences
• 12:49 love, lust & life in times of plague
• 14:45 Venus and Adonis vs Lucrece
• 15:41 Shakespeare’s comedic power
• 17:00 Shakespeare’s grand inversions
• 18:11 symbolism in Venus and Adonis
• 22:00 mythology & Ovid’s Metamorphoses
• 29:00 biographical allusions in the poem
• 31:00 Venus becomes a love poet
• 34:00 Shakespeare on ripeness & time
• 36:00 ‘thou was begot; to get it is thy duty’
• 38:00 on losing a winning match
• 40:00 Venus attacks the manhood of Adonis
• 41:18 the opening stanza of this poem
• 42:45 hunting hearts & wooing in the wood
• 44:00 ‘I’ll be a park, and thou shalt be my deer’
• 47:20 a picture of equine courtship
• 49:00 the Shakespearean heroine’s lament
• 51:36 the difference between love & desire
• 55:16 ‘before I know myself, seek not to know me’
• 58:00 meditating upon the value of this poem
• 1:00:00 discussing Henry VI & Richard III
• 1:04:00 your thoughts on Venus and Adonis?

Recommended Resources:

• Recommended Audio Version: This radio dramatisation of Venus and Adonis by Naxos is one of my favourite readings of Shakespeare. The narrators do a superb job at bringing the poem to life. Pairing listening and reading makes for a wonderful reading experience.
• The Golden Bough: Sir James Frazer's incredibly influential work on myth, magic, and religion is one of my personal favourite works of all time. I recommend the Oxford World's Classics edition, which is available here.
• Shakespeare's Ovid: Shakespeare loved Ovid's Metamorphoses, and he would have been working from the aesthetic marvel that is Arthur Golding's translation. It is available in Penguin Classics paperback here for your reading pleasure.
• The Goddess of Complete Being: Ted Hughes has a thought-provoking work here that seeks to unravel the mythic secrets at the heart of Shakespeare's works, with Venus and Adonis and Lucrece being the keys to understanding his later plays.
• Shakespeare's Sonnets: You might wish to treat yourself to this Everyman volume of Shakespeare's sonnets specifically for the wonderful essay by W. H. Auden in the back and introduction by Helen Vendler. There's also this brilliant volume that attempts to place the sonnets in compositional sequence. And here is Sir Patrick Stewart reading sonnet 129.
• A Single Page from Venus and Adonis: Here you can see a very rare loose leaf from an early edition of this immensely popular poem. This single page has managed to survive the endless rereadings that resulted in most editions perishing.

Questions for You:

1) How does Venus and Adonis compare with Lucrece? How does it compare with the other poems you have enjoyed?

2) Why do you think Venus and Adonis was so popular?

3) What line, passage, or idea most resonated with you? And what is your personal grading for this work?

Happy reading, Bardolators!