Love Poems and Sonnets

Love Poems and Sonnets of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare, 154 pages

TS Eliot famously declared that "Dante and Shakespeare divide the world between them, there is no third."  Harold Bloom, slightly less famously, observed that this line is almost invariably quoted as praise of Dante, thus demonstrating the Englishman's ultimate preeminence.  Of course, much of that is based on the plays, rather than the poetry, but although this collection includes selections from the former as well as the latter, it is the sonnets that form the bulk of the book.  Most of these poems share the same voice, that of the imploring lover, although that lover is by turns seductive and adoring, hopeful and despairing, playful and earnest, a fool and a genius - a cast nearly as rich as that of the plays.