Shakespeare's narrative poems.
Beyond the plays and the sonnets, Shakespeare wrote five long narrative poems — from a sun-soaked seduction (Venus and Adonis) to a brutal political tragedy (The Rape of Lucrece) to one of the strangest poems in English (The Phoenix and the Turtle). All free here, with plain-English study notes.
Venus and Adonis
Venus pursues the beautiful young hunter Adonis, who rejects her advances and rides off to his death.
The Rape of Lucrece
A Roman nobleman rapes the chaste Lucrece; she kills herself; her kinsmen avenge her and overthrow a tyrant.
The Passionate Pilgrim
A mixed collection of love poems: some Shakespeare's, some not. Quarrels over desire, betrayal, and what loyalty means.
The Phoenix and the Turtle
A funeral ode for two mythical birds whose perfect love ends in mutual flames.
A Lover's Complaint
A young woman mourns a seducer's betrayal in a riverside lament of 329 lines.
Read the poems on the web. Hear them in the app.
