{"id":"01KG8B0T43PWW4P5K3KQKNX7P7","cid":"bafkreicp63bv5qumlzfqzhrg3yghwerornqc34srmemu7hhuidbctmrtqa","type":"file","properties":{"cid":"bafkreiangihh4thmzp2zzvv5kzbhatjvctko7t4dnx3hosllcxouafr4vy","content_type":"image/jpeg","filename":"02_venus_and_adonis_1905_facsimile_page_0042.jpg","height":2400,"key":"pdf-page-1769806521474-9y9dazqtkap","label":"02_venus_and_adonis_1905_facsimile_page_0042.jpg","page_number":42,"pdf_type":"born_digital","size":563548,"text":"3\n(J\nVENUS\nAND\nADONIS\nrhapsody under the joint title of The Pilgrimage to Paradise^\nioyned with the Countess of Penhrookes loue. The skilful manage-\nment of the metre by Spenser, Lodge, and Breton — the\npleasant alternation of the alternately riming quatrains\nwith the riming couplet — left Shakespeare small oppor-\ntunity ofimprovement, and although his mastery is for the\nmost part complete he did not travel far beyond the bounds\nthat his predecessors had assigned the stanza/ O^ the\nattraction that the metre had for him in early life, he has\nleft an interesting testimony outside the poem. In what\nis probably his earliest play. Loves Labour V Lost^ he attempted\nto turn sixains to dramatic uses, and one of the hero\nBiron's speeches. Act i, Sc. i, 11. ifi-52, is in regular six-\nlined stanzas. But the awkward experiment was not repeated\non the stage, and its main interest lies in the evidence it\noffers of Shakespeare's predilection for the metre at a very\nearly stage of his career.\nReception of The rcccption accorded Shakespeare's work was extra-\n^^^^^T ordinarily warm. Reprints were numerous durinof the remain-speare s J ^ _ *-*\npoem. ing twenty-three years of Shakespeare's life. References to\nit are frequent in contemporary literature, and are couched\nfor the most part in highly commendatory terms. So signal\na success is adequately explained by the vigorous freshness\nof the poem. Subsidiary causes are to be found in the\nvoluptuous treatment of the story, and in a natural affinity,\n^ Of the many long poems written in sixains subsequent to Venus and\nAdonis^ it will be sufficient to mention Southwell's St. 'Peter's Compla'mt (i5'^5\"),\nBarnfield's Affectionate Skepheard (1^94), his Cassandra (l5'95'), his Lady Fecunia\nand Complaint ofFoetrie (i^pS), J. C.'s Alcilia (15^5) and Marston's The Meta^\nmorphosis of Figfnaliofi's Image (i^pS). The metre was so common before Ve7ius\nand Adofiis came Out that it would be unsafe to assume that its vogue was\nsubstantially extended by the success of Shakespeare's work. But Barnfield's\nplagiarisms of Shakespeare's Ve?ius are so constant and unblushing that\nhis choice of metre may safely be assigned to the influence of Shakespeare's\npoem.","text_extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:55:21.474Z","text_extracted_by":"pdf-processor","text_has_content":true,"text_source":"born_digital","uploaded":true,"width":1632},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG89K4X0DM39SSQK43XXG34R","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KG89JREDR8WY5QQGYR5FZRDY","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:55:22.499Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:55:25.351Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFFH6ETXGRVD10WPNP3007D6"}}