Poemetti: Venere e Adone - Lo stupro di Lucrezia

by William Shakespeare, Valter Malosti (Translator)

Scritto nel 1593 durante la peste di Londra, il poemetto erotico-mitologico Venere e Adone dà una versione modificata della vicenda raccontata da Ovidio. Come paradigma dell’eros più carnale e ossessivo diventerà un best seller, ristampato innumerevoli volte. L’anno dopo Shakespeare riprende un episodio dell’antica storia romana: lo stupro di Lucrezia da parte di Sesto Tarquinio (figlio di Tarquinio il Superbo). Un raptus di violenza incontrollabile raccontato per la prima volta, in modo sconvolgente, direttamente dalla voce della donna che ne è vittima. Venere e Adone e Lo stupro di Lucrezia, oltre ad essere due capolavori assoluti, sono le uniche opere di Shakespeare di cui il drammaturgo abbia curato la stampa personalmente, cosa mai accaduta né con le sue opere teatrali né con i Sonetti. Si tratta di due testi di grande raffinatezza stilistica ma anche di grande potenza narrativa e drammatica. Non a caso Valter Malosti li ha messi in scena in due spettacoli memorabili e premiati. La traduzione è dunque quella realizzata per la rappresentazione teatrale. Lo stesso Malosti nell’introduzione ci racconta il personalissimo rapporto con i due poemetti e ne dà un’interpretazione originale che tiene insieme le ragioni della filologia e del teatro.

Genres: Poetry, Shakespeare, 16th Century

234 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1594

About the author

William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner ("sharer") of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men after the ascension of King James VI and I of Scotland to the English throne. At age 49 (around 1613), he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive; this has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, his sexuality, his religious beliefs, and even certain fringe theories as to whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories and are regarded as some of the best works produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, all considered to be among the finest works in the English language. In the last phase of his life, he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) and collaborated with other playwrights.
Many of Shakespeare's plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. However, in 1623, John Heminge and Henry Condell, two fellow actors and friends of Shakespeare's, published a more definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works that includes 36 of his plays. Its Preface was a prescient poem by Ben Jonson, a former rival of Shakespeare, that hailed Shakespeare with the now famous epithet: "not of an age, but for all time".

Reviews

[Michael Finocchiaro · Rating 3 out of 5]

The poetry is of course good, but the stories overbearing and dated. I am not being wokist, but we are talking about the death of a man because he would not bed a goddess (from Ovid’s Metamorphosis) and the death of a maiden because she was raped by her husband’s kinsman (from Ovid’s Fastis). Not the gayest of topics and relatively heavy going for the reader.
There is a passage of The Rape of Lucrece that stuck out for me though. Despite several comments to the effect of “men are marble and women are wax”, Shakespeare throws in a tiny piece of basic feminism:
No man inveigh against the withered flower,
But chide rough weather that the flower doth killed.
Not that devoured, but that which doth devour
Is worthy blame. O, let it not be held
Poor women’s faults that they are so full-filled
With men’s abuses. Those proud lords, to blame,
Make weak-made women tenants to their shame. (v. 1253-1260)
It is like a very light critique of the premise of the poem, blaming the victim only serves to cover the shame of the perpetrator.

Fino's Reviews of Shakespeare and Shakespearean Criticism
Comedies
The Comedy of Errors (1592-1593
The Taming of the Shrew (1593-1594)
The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1594-1595)
Love's Labour's Lost (1594-1595)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595-1596)
The Merchant of Venice (1596-1597)
Much Ado About Nothing (1598-1599)
As You Like It (1599-1600)
Twelfth Night (1599-1600)
The Merry Wives of Windsor (1600-1601)
All's Well That Ends Well (1602-1603)
Measure for Measure (1604-1605)
Cymbeline (1609-1610)
A Winter's Tale (1610-1611)
The Tempest (1611-1612)
Two Noble Kinsmen (1612-1613)

Histories
Henry VI Part I (1589-1590)
Henry VI Part II (1590-1591)
Henry VI Part III (1590-1591)
Richard III (1593-1594)
Richard II (1595-1596)
King John (1596-1597)
Edward III (1596-1597)
Henry IV Part I (1597-1598)
Henry IV Part II (1597-1598)
Henry V (1598-1599)
Henry VIII (1612-1612)

Tragedies
Titus Andronicus (1592-1593)
Romeo and Juliet (1594-1595)
Julius Caesar (1599-1600)
Hamlet (1600-1601)
Troilus and Cressida (1601-1602)
Othello (1604-1605)
King Lear (1605-1606)
Macbeth (1605-1606)
Anthony and Cleopatra (1606-1607)
Coriolanus (1607-1608)
Timon of Athens (1607-1608)
Pericles (1608-1609)

Shakespearean Criticism
The Wheel of Fire by Wilson Knight
A Natural Perspective by Northrop Frye
Shakespeare After All by Marjorie Garber
Shakespeare's Roman Plays and Their Background by M W MacCallum
Shakespearean Criticism 1919-1935 compiled by Anne Ridler
Shakespearean Tragedy by A.C. Bradley
Shakespeare's Sexual Comedy by Hugh M. Richmond
Shakespeare: The Comedies by R.P. Draper
Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics by Stephen Greenblatt
1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare by James Shapiro

Collections of Shakespeare
Venus and Adonis, the Rape of Lucrece and Other Poems
Shakespeare's Sonnets and a Lover's Complaint
The Complete Oxford Shakespeare

[Yassmeen Altaif · Rating 2 out of 5]

قرأتها بنسخة عربية ..

كيف هو الحب عند فينوس؟ ، عشقها لأدونيس

نهاية مأساوية بموت عشيقها أدونيس من قبل المنية

توقعتها رائعة كتلك الملاحم العالمية مثل جلجامش أو أوالإلياذة

لكنها لم تكن كذلك

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to both these poems within a week or so of each other (and reviewed them separately) but I just want to say what a GREAT job Eve Best, Clare Corbett, David Burke and cast do with this material. 'Venus and Adonis' is read lightly, even with comic hints. But the opposite is true with "The Rape of Lucrece", as it is performed darkly, Lucrece's pain clearly evident. If I had read these,in my head, I am sure these works wouldn't have felt and sounded as good. So it's Shakespeare on audio for me!

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Both these long poems deal with difficult themes of lust and the consequences of that lust. They are precursers of some of the tragedies and interesting to read. Not my favorite of the Shakespeare canon though. But glad I read them.

[Wuthering Nina · Rating 3 out of 5]

not my favourite shakespeare

[Tammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

July 2023

Shakespeare wrote these two poems early in his career when London was in lockdown because of the plague. Venus and Adonis can be read in about an hour, and The Rape of Lucrece in two. Understanding takes a lot more time. Perhaps a lifetime.

In Venus and Adonis, he dresses up the work of his favorite poet Ovid and tells the story in his own way and in The Rape of Lucrece he does the same for what was narrated by Plutarch in The Life of Publicola. Both poems draw from very different genre: Venus and Adonis from mythology and The Rape of Lucrece from character studies. Things they have in common are the colors red and white; lust; the destruction of innocence (Lucrece being true to her husband in marriage); and a being in a position of power preying on the powerless, resulting in death.

The Rape of Lucrece is more masterful because Shakespeare offers the perspective of Tarquin and all of his narcisstic creepy rationalization and of Lucrece and the horror that was inflicted upon her. The act itself was poetically described, but briefly. What makes the poem stand out to a novice reader of poetry is the image of siege that is woven throughout. Tarquin invaded her place of rest under cover of night, where all darkness and evil lurk, and broke down her walls and spoiled her. The next morning, after she fires off a letter, she studies a painting of the siege of Troy. She sees her image in the face of Hecuba, the Queen of Troy. She sees Tarquin’s image in the face of Sinon who does not look like the devil he is and was able to convince King Priam to allow the Trojan horse into the city. The ending of the poem is tragic and it really isn’t a spoiler to anyone who has read Plutarch or is familiar with the brutal Tarquin kings, so I shall say no more.

It’s good to date reviews. Thanks to The Literary Life Podcast over at the House of Humane Letters, my reading skills have vastly improved. Poetry is so hard for analytical math people and their podcast has shared such wonderful insight on understanding images, metaphor, and the Elizabethan way of thinking.

What help me understand more this time around is that I listened to the recording of one poem in its entirety first. If you can sit through a long movie or binge-watch a show, you can sit and listen to a long poem. That shut down my analytical side and follow the story and big picture. It really surprised me how how helpful it was. Then I read the poem in a book and made notes in the margin and looked things up and narrated. What a different experience from the last time I read the poems.

June 2020

The poetry is beautiful and I was able to follow the plot. I'm the most impatient reader of poetry. I'm ready to move onto plays again.

[Severin Fischer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Desire and Distance: My Journey Through Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis

Reading Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare was like stepping into a storm of longing—beautiful, chaotic, and deeply frustrating. It’s a narrative poem where the goddess Venus falls madly for the stunningly handsome mortal Adonis, who, frustratingly, wants none of it. He’s more interested in hunting than in her fiery affections. I couldn’t help but smile at the irony.

Venus is relentless. Her desire burns through every verse, and as I read, I felt both amused and uncomfortable. She begs, seduces, pleads. There’s a power in her vulnerability that’s rare—especially for a female character in that era—but it’s also tinted with desperation. That tension fascinated me. It felt raw and very human.

Adonis, on the other hand, keeps his distance. Cold, stubborn, and almost naive, he’s the embodiment of resistance to passion. And maybe that’s what Shakespeare was showing us—how love, when unreturned, becomes torment. I felt Venus’s pain more than Adonis’s logic. It made me think about how rejection doesn’t just hurt—it transforms.

The language is rich, painted with metaphors and sensual imagery. Shakespeare doesn’t hold back—every line pulses with emotion and movement. At times, it was overwhelming, but never dull. The poem ends tragically, with Adonis killed by a wild boar. Venus’s grief is haunting. I sat with that ending longer than I expected.

Venus and Adonis isn’t just about love. It’s about imbalance, obsession, pride, and vulnerability. Reading it felt like being pulled into a dramatic monologue with no exit, and yet, I didn’t want one. Shakespeare gave us something wild and honest here—not the romance we want, but the truth we often avoid. And for that, I couldn’t look away.







ChatGPT fragen

[Ginger Stephens · Rating 3 out of 5]

I must admit that I am not a poetry fan. The combination of Venus and Adonis with the Rape of Lucrece is an odd combination. Venus’s unrequited love of the beautiful Adonis could be the story of any woman in love with an immature man who wants to go hunting instead of staying with her.

The Rape of Lucrece is the longer of the two poems. I did find myself wishing that it was shorter. Lucrece’s lamenting immediately following her rape by Tarquin is heartbreaking, but it goes on and on. It is kind of like the violence in Titus Andronicus in that it is so over the top, you just want it to be over.

Both poems are sad. The end of Venus and Adonis made me wonder about the number of times Shakespeare’s heart had been broken. It is so tinged with anger that pain must accompany love that it belies someone with a lot of pain in the realism of love.

I don’t really recommend poetry, unless a person is inclined to like poems, so you may want to think before embarking on either of these works.

[Lynda Brooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am actually reviewing The Rape of Lucrece here as I have already reviewed Venus and Adonis. As for Lucrece, what a tragically sad story of lust and suicide, though it must be remembered that suicide was generally viewed as honorable in Roman times if not in Shakespeare’s. I agree with Brutus, who speaks at the end of the poem, saying that Lucrece should have used the knife on her rapist rather than on herself.

[Sheldon Farough · Rating 3 out of 5]

The language and style of both these very long poems are quite beautiful. I liked Lucrece though found the subject a little rough. Venus and Adonis took me a while because I had trouble following it. I dont really have lots of thoughts on these.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading this after reading the entirety of Shakespeare's plays and it was initially a difficult transition to make, from plays to minor epic poems like "Venus and Adonis" and "The Rape of Lucrece." But once I got into them and even re-read them once, I came to appreciate them greatly, though I have difficulty determining which is my favorite. Both stories are told in Ovid's "Metamorphoses," which it seems influenced Shakespeare's telling; both are also dedicated by the Bard to Henry Wriothesly. Both are also rather tragic (though the first is humorous, as well).

"Venus and Adonis" is a story about love, lust and innocence with bits of humor as Venus tries to win the affections of young Adonis, who is more interested in hunting than he is in love making. While there is much humor to be found in this poem, the final tone is rather tragic. One of my favorite stanzas: "'Love comforteth like sunshine after rain,/ But Lust's effect is tempest after sun;/Love's gentle spring doth always fresh remain,/Lust's winter comes ere summer half be done;/Love surfeits not, Lust like a a glutton dies;/Love is all truth, Lust full of forged lies." There is much fine verse to be found in this one.

"The Rape of Lucrece" also contains a great deal of very fine verse, and it tells the tragic story of Lucrece, wife of Collatine. Lucrece (and her husband) are greatly shamed after Lucrece is ravished by Lucius Tarquinius, and this poem has a much more tragic and emotional tone than "Venus and Adonis." In the poem it is easy to sympathize with Lucrece (and to scream out "No!" as she tries to blame herself for the heinous offense acted upon her), whose emotions fluctuate between grief and shame, as she looks upon the stains of history (represented by art) to find cases similar of her own to comfort her and make her feel less alone. The poem is a very emotionally complex one, dealing not only with issues of grief, shame, blame and remorse, but also trust, jealousy and revenge. At the end, Lucrece's father and husband rather egoistically argue over whose grief is the greater, seemingly less affected by the death of Lucrece than by the effect of her rape and death on them.

"The Passionate Pilgrim" sonnets are much less dark in tone, and contain some excellent verse ("The truth I shall not know, but live in doubt,/Till my bad angel fire my good one out"; "If by me broke, what fool is not so wise/To break an oath, to win a paradise?"). Among my favorites are numbers IV, XI, XII, XIII, XVIII, XX (this is probably my very favorite, along with number XVIII) and XXI.

Overall, outstanding works that certainly warrant the occasional re-read.

[Les Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

These two poems [Both stories are told in Ovid's "Metamorphoses"] date from Shakespeare's early years and are full of passion and invention. In "Venus and Adonis", the goddess of love pleads with the beautiful boy to submit to her advances and become her love - but he only wants to hunt boar. In the more serious "Rape of Lucrece", Shakespeare draws on the Roman take of the Emperor Tarquin's desire for Lucrece and its tragic consequences.

I prefer Ovid's version. However these poems give prominent parts to the two heroines, and Clare Colbert and Eve Best shine.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Waxing poetic again. Great imagery. Love to read it out loud, in my room, with the door closed.