Shakespeare's Sonnets - 3rd Edition

This Arden edition of Shakespeare's sonnets is closely based on the 1609 Quarto. As Katherine Duncan-Jones demonstrates, this text was authorized by Shakespeare himself, and may be based on an authorial manuscript. The whole carefully-ordered sequence, including "A Lover's Complaint", is read in the context of Shakespeare's career and of the poems' historical setting within early Jacobean culture. A clear-eyed analysis of homoerotic elements in the sonnets puts an end to the century of homophobic readings initiated by Sir Sidney Lee in 1897. Succinct and accessible notes guide the reader through complex vocabulary and syntax, as well as the poems' literary and cultural background. For ease of reference, these are printed on the same page-opening as the text.

Reviews
The annotation is consistently thoughtful and well judged, giving plenty of precise help with lexical and syntactical problems, and offering valuable verbal and cultural analogues from contemporary literature. No edition of these difficult and controversial poems will command agreement at all points, but this must now be the edition of first resort — Paul Hammond, Review of English Studies

Sharpens our focus on the documentary record of the Sonnets, and gives the best scholarly account yet of some of its words. — Alastair Fowler, Times Literary Supplement

The new edition... edited by Katherine Duncan-Jones, is the clearest, most complete and up-to-date there is. She is the first editor for general readers not to mumble when dealing with the homoerotic aspect. Under her meticulous direction, the sequence opens out like a magical garden, its beauties enhanced, its mysterious prospects illuminated. — Duncan Fallowell, The Independent

It is Duncan-Jones's intention as scholar and critic to confront the issue of sexuality which Kerrigan and other editors have consistently side-stepped... Hers is an edition which uniquely makes the Sonnets issue from the body's moods as well as the mind's. — Tom Paulin, London Review of Books

This new edition, handsome, crisp in annotation, and rich in historical detail, shows that the Sonnets are effectively Shakespeare's life's work... Its most radical claim is not the familiar one that the poems are homosexual, but that Shakespeare authorised their publication. — Evening Standard

About The Arden Shakespeare series
The Arden Shakespeare is the established scholarly edition of Shakespeare's plays. Now in its third series, Arden offers the best in contemporary scholarship. Each volume guides you to a deeper understanding and appreciation of Shakespeare's work.

Arden Shakespeare is the most academically rigorous Shakespeare series in print, and the best-known English literature brand worldwide. In 1995 the Third Series of The Arden Shakespeare was launched. Now published under the imprint Arden Shakespeare, under the General Editorship of Richard Proudfoot, Ann Thompson, David Scott Kastan and Henry Woudhuysen, the Arden Shakespeare Third Series is nearing completion. Each new volume supersedes the corresponding Second Series text, being meticulously edited from the original sources by a contemporary scholar.

Contents

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List of Illustrations General Editors' Preface  The Text  Commentary and Textual Notes Preface Introduction  Date   External evidence   Internal evidence: the likelihood of revision   Internal evidence: style   Internal evidence: topical allusions  Publishing history   The authenticity of the 1609 Quarto   Benson and beyond  Context and allusion  Reception and criticism   Reception   Criticism  Shakespeare's Sonnets   The title   The relevance of A Lover's Complaint   Sonnet structure, Sonnets structure  This edition Shakespeare's Sonnets  Sonnets   By number   By first line  A Lover's Complaint Appendix: Manuscript texts Abbreviations and references  Abbreviations used in the notes  Works by and partly by Shakespeare  Editions of Shakespeare collated  Other works cited Index First line index