VENUS AND ADONIS THIS poem, the first product of Shakespeare's pen to issue from the press, was printed in 1593 by his fellow-townsman, Richard Field. It seems to have become popular at once; and by the middle of the seventeenth century at least twelve editions had appeared. The dedication indicates that it was published with Shakespeare's consent, and it is to be presumed that it was printed from the author's manuscript. The first edition is the sole authority for the text. 66 Of the date of composition the only additional evidence lies in the words of the dedication, the first heir of my invention." Since, according to the received chronology, Shakespeare had by this time written several plays, it is necessary to suppose either that he used this phrase in a sense which excluded drama, or that the poem had at least been sketched some years before the date of publication. This second and more plausible hypothesis does not preclude the possibility of polishing and revision down to the date of entry in the Stationers' Register, April 18, 1593. Venus and Adonis belongs to a somewhat large class of Elizabethan poems in which classical legends were re-told with the luxuriant decoration characteristic of the spirit of the Renaissance. Ovid was the most frequent source of these themes, and in the present instance we find borrowings from several of the poems of the Metamorphoses: the reluctance of the hero from the legend of Hermaphroditus in Book iv; the boar from that of Meleager in Book viii; and other details from the account of Adonis in Book x. A large number of poetical treatments of the myth, going back to Theocritus as well as to Ovid, are found in the works of sixteenth-century poets in Italy, France, and Spain; and traces of their influence are supposed to be discernible in the present poem. The essential feature of the reluctance of Adonis, however, is not explicitly stated in any of the Continental versions, classical or Renaissance. It is present in incidental treatments of the theme by Greene and Marlowe; and Thomas Lodge, in his ornate re-telling of the Ovidian tale of Glaucus and Scilla (1589), had described a situation similar to that in Shakespeare's poem, by reversing, probably under the influence of Ovid's Salmacis and Hermaphroditus, the parts played by the hero and heroine. Lodge also treated in passing the story of Adonis; and the verse-form he employed is that used by Shakespeare. These indications, corroborated by the presence of numerous similarities in detail, point to Lodge's poem as the most important immediate source of Shakespeare's inspiration. Vilia miretur vulgus: mihi flavus Apollo TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE HENRY WRIOTHESLEY, EARL OF SOUTHAMPTON AND BARON OF TICHFIELD. RIGHT HONOURABLE, I know not how I shall offend in dedicating my unpolish'd lines to your Lordship, nor how the world will censure me for choosing so strong a prop to support so weak a burden; only if your Honour seem but pleased, I account myself highly praised, and vow to take advantage of all idle hours till I have honoured you with some graver labour. But if the first heir of my invention prove deformed, I shall be sorry it had so noble a godfather; and never after ear so barren a land, for fear it yield me still so bad a harvest. I leave it to your honourable survey, and your Honour to your heart's content, which I wish may always answer your own wish and the world's hopeful expectation. Your Honour's in all duty, WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE VENUS AND ADONIS EVEN as the sun with purple-colour'd face Had ta'en his last leave of the weeping morn, Rose-cheek'd Adonis hied him to the chase; Hunting he lov'd, but love he laugh'd to scorn. Sick-thoughted Venus makes amain unto him, And like a bold-fac'd suitor gins to woo him. 5 "Thrice fairer than myself," thus she began, "The field's chief flower, sweet above compare, Stain to all nymphs, more lovely than a man, More white and red than doves or roses are; 10 Nature that made thee, with herself at strife, Saith that the world hath ending with thy life. "Vouchsafe, thou wonder, to alight thy steed, Here come and sit, where never serpent hisses, And being set, I'll smother thee with kisses; 20 "And yet not cloy thy lips with loath'd satiety, But rather famish them amid their plenty, Making them red and pale with fresh variety, Ten kisses short as one, one long as twenty. A summer's day will seem an hour but short, With this she seizeth on his sweating palm, 25 Over one arm the lusty courser's rein, She red and hot as coals of glowing fire, The studded bridle on a ragged bough 5 40 Backward she push'd him, as she would be thrust, And govern'd him in strength, though not in lust. all wet; And one sweet kiss shall pay this countless debt. Upon this promise did he raise his chin, Like a dive-dapper peering through a wave, 85 |