The Poems（ISBN=9780521671620）

This is a fully annotated edition of all the poems which are now generally regarded as Shakespeare's, excluding the Sonnets. It contains Venus and Adonis, The Rape of Lucrece, The Phoenix and the Turtle, The Passionate Pilgrim, and A Lover's Complaint. The introduction to the two long narrative poems examines their place within the classical and Renaissance European traditions, an issue which also applies to The Phoenix and the Turtle. John Roe analyses the conditions in which the collection was produced, and weighs the evidence for and against Shakespeare's authorship of A Lover's Complaint and the much-debated question of its genre. He demonstrates how in his management of formal tropes Shakespeare, like the best Elizabethans, fashions a living language out of handbook oratory. This updated edition contains a new introductory section on recent critical interpretations and an updated reading list.

List of illustrations
Preface
List of abbreviations and conventions
Introduction: Venus and Adonis, The Rape of Lucrece, The Phoenix and the Turtle
The Passionate Pilgrim; A Lover's Complaint
 Note on the text
Recent critical interpretations
Principles of collation
VENUS AND ADONIS
THE RAPE OF LUCRECE
THE PHOENIX AND THE TURTLE
THE PASSIONATE PILGRIM
A LOVER'S COMPLAINT
Supplementary notes
Textual analysis
Reading list