When this volume of Shakespeare's poems first appeared in 1609, he had already written most of the great plays that made him famous. The 154 sonnets - all but two of which are addressed to a beautiful young man or a treacherous 'dark lady' - contain some of the most exquisite and haunting poetry ever written, and deal with eternal subjects such as love and infidelity, memory and mortality, and the destruction wreaked by Time. Also included is A Lover's Complaint, originally published with the sonnets, in which a young woman is overheard lamenting her betrayal by a heartless seducer.
La notable capacidad de Shakespeare para profundizar en la psicología de sus personajes queda de manifiesto en la sanguinaria figura de Ricarlo III, duque de Gloster, quien en el siglo XV usurpó el trono de Inglaterra tras una larga lista de intrigas y crímenes atroces que, sin escrúpulo alguno y llevado por su ambición hábilmente encubierta, cometió contra su familia y contra cualquier que interfierese en sus planes.
"I feel that I have spent half my career with one or another Pelican Shakespeare in my back pocket. Convenience, however, is the least important aspect of the new Pelican Shakespeare series. Here is an elegant and clear text for either the study or the rehearsal room, notes where you need them and the distinguished scholarship of the general editors, Stephen Orgel and A. R. Braunmuller who understand that these are plays for performance as well as great texts for contemplation." (Patrick Stewart)
