FACTOID # 9: Luxembourgers are the world's richest people - and also the most generous.
 
 Home   Encyclopedia   Statistics   Countries A-Z   Flags   Maps   Education   Forum   FAQ   About 
 
 
 
WHAT'S NEW
RECENT ARTICLES
More Recent Articles »
 

SEARCH ALL

FACTS & STATISTICS    Advanced view

Search encyclopedia, statistics and forums:

 

 

(* = Graphable)

 

 


Encyclopedia > A Lover's Complaint

A Lover's Complaint is a narrative poem usually attributed to William Shakespeare, although the poem's authorship is a matter of critical debate. A narrative poem is an extended poem which tells a story. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...


Form and Content

The poem consists of forty-nine seven-line stanzas written in the rhyme royal (with the rhyme scheme ababbcc), a metre and structure identical to that of Shakespeare's poem The Rape of Lucrece. In poetry, a stanza is a unit within a larger poem. ... Rhyme royal is a rhyming stanza form that was introduced into English poetry by Geoffrey Chaucer. ... A rhyme scheme is the pattern or rhyming lines in a poem or in lyrics for music. ... The Earl of Southampton, painted in 1594, aged 21, the year that Shakespeare dedicated The Rape of Lucrece to him The narrative poem The Rape of Lucrece is the graver work promised by English dramatist-poet William Shakespeare in his dedication to his patron, Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton...


In the poem, the speaker sees a young woman weeping at the bank of a river, in which she throws torn-up letters, rings, and other tokens of love. An elderly shepherd asks the reason for her sorrow, and she responds by telling him of a former lover who pursued, seduced, and finally abandoned her. She concludes her story by conceding that she would fall for the young man's false charms again: In a draw in a mountainous region, a shepherd guides a flock of about 20 sheep amidst scrub and olive trees. ...

O that infected moisture of his eye,
O that false fire which in his cheek so glow'd,
O that forc'd thunder from his heart did fly,
O that sad breath his spongy lungs bestow'd,
O all that borrowed motion seemingly ow'd,
Would yet again betray the fore-betray'd,
And new pervert a reconciled maid!

History and Authorship

The poem was originally appended to the first complete edition of Shakespeare's sonnets, which was published by Thomas Thorpe in 1609. However, critics have often doubted attribution to Shakespeare. A Lover's Complaint contains many words and forms not found elsewhere in Shakespeare, including several archaisms and Latinisms, and is sometimes regarded as rhythmically and structurally awkward. Conversely, other critics have a high regard for the poem's quality, and see thematic parallels to situations in Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well and Measure for Measure. The poem can also be regarded as an appropriate coda to the sonnets, with its narrative triangle of young woman, elderly man, and seductive suitor paralleling a similar triangle in the sonnets themselves. Shakespeares sonnets comprise a collection of 154 poems in sonnet form that deal with such themes as love, beauty, politics, and mortality. ... // Events April 4 – King of Spain signs an edit of expulsion of all moriscos from Spain April 9 – Spain recognizes Dutch independence May 23 - Official ratification of the Second Charter of Virginia. ... Alls Well That Ends Well is a comedy by William Shakespeare, which is also considered one of his problem plays. ... Measure for Measure is a play written by William Shakespeare in 1603. ... CODA - a software company that provides best-of-class, finance-based management information solutions. ...


External links

  • Free eBook A Lover's Complaint at Project Gutenberg
  • A Lover's Complaint - HTML version of this title.
The works of William Shakespeare
Tragedies: Romeo and Juliet | Macbeth | King Lear | Hamlet | Othello | Titus Andronicus | Julius Caesar | Antony and Cleopatra | Coriolanus | Troilus and Cressida | Timon of Athens
Comedies: A Midsummer Night's Dream | All's Well That Ends Well | As You Like It | Cardenio (lost) | Cymbeline | Love's Labour's Lost | Love's Labour's Won (lost) | Measure for Measure | The Merchant of Venice | The Merry Wives of Windsor | Much Ado About Nothing | Pericles, Prince of Tyre | Taming of the Shrew | The Comedy of Errors | The Tempest | Twelfth Night, or What You Will | The Two Gentlemen of Verona | The Two Noble Kinsmen | The Winter's Tale
Histories: King John | Edward III (attributed) | Richard II | Henry IV, part 1 | Henry IV, part 2 | Henry V | Henry VI, part 1 | Henry VI, part 2 | Henry VI, part 3 | Richard III | Henry VIII
Other works: Sonnets | Venus and Adonis | The Rape of Lucrece | The Passionate Pilgrim | The Phoenix and the Turtle | A Lover's Complaint
See also: Shakespeare on screen | Titles based on Shakespeare | Shakespearean characters

  Results from FactBites:
 
BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Music | I am a 'net pirate' (713 words)
The record industry has a valuable product to protect and is right to do so, but it wilfully fails to accept that the vast majority of people who download songs from the internet do so without paying for it because there is no legitimate and convincing alternative.
For the last 10 years the music industry has resolutely refused to accept that technology and music lovers have changed and instead is clinging on to a view of the world forever stuck in 1993.
In 1993, the CD was the undisputed king of the music market, the teenager was the hallowed consumer to be courted and chased while the internet and mp3s were the preserve of a few geeks.
  More results at FactBites »


 
 

COMMENTARY     


Share your thoughts, questions and commentary here
Your name
Your comments

Want to know more?
Search encyclopedia, statistics and forums:

 


Lesson Plans | Student Area | Student FAQ | Reviews | Press Releases |  Feeds | Contact
The Wikipedia article included on this page is licensed under the GFDL.
Images may be subject to relevant owners' copyright.
All other elements are (c) copyright NationMaster.com 2003-5. All Rights Reserved.
Usage implies agreement with terms, 1022, m