A Lover's Complaint

William ShakespeareProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.4

Word count: 16K words
Chapters: 2

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.A Lover's Complaint by William ShakespeareAuthor: Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Dec 1, 1997

Editor's review

A Lover's Complaint is an often overlooked short narrative poem in Shakespeare's collection, unfolding as a young woman confides her heartbreak to an old man. It is brief yet emotionally dense. The work continues Shakespeare's sensitivity to the rhetoric of love and the theme of deception; the woman's account unfolds layer by layer, letting readers see how sweet words become instruments of harm. Compared with Shakespeare's plays, it serves better as a supplementary text for understanding his poetic language and emotional expression. This public-domain electronic edition from Project Gutenberg is easy to open on a phone or computer at any time, suited to close reading paragraph by paragraph in quiet spare moments. While reading, note changes in the narrator's tone and the recurring images in the poem to more directly appreciate how lyricism and narrative intertwine in the work.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literature lovers who want to add Shakespeare's non-dramatic works to their reading
Poetry readers interested in love poetry and narrative verse
Self-learners who need English poetry texts for language study
Readers who enjoy pondering emotion and rhetoric in short texts

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking long novels with twisty plots and strong storytelling
Beginners unused to Early Modern English or the poetry form

Reading tips

Read through once to grasp the overall mood, then close-read the woman's account section by section.
While reading, mark recurring images and metaphors and observe their emotional function.
Read alongside Shakespeare's sonnets to feel the common ground of his poetic language.
The electronic edition makes it easy to look up unfamiliar words; when something puzzles you, check the words first, then return to the context.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What is this poem roughly about?

Framed as a young woman confiding her love experience to an elder, it tells how she was moved by sweet words and ultimately emotionally hurt. The poem unfolds as a monologue; its focus is not plot twists but the woman's layered self-disclosure and her reflections on love's deception.

Is this edition suitable for English beginners?

This is an English public-domain text in Early Modern English, whose syntax and vocabulary differ from modern English. Beginners will find it somewhat difficult to read directly; it is advisable to learn the story outline first, or use annotated editions and dictionaries as aids, before gradually moving into the original text.

Is it long? How long does it take to finish?

It is a short narrative poem, and reading it in full takes little time. If you close-read section by section and look up words, you can finish it in two or three sittings; it is better suited to savoring slowly in spare moments than to rushing through in one go.

Comments

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About the author

William Shakespeare Author · English · 1564–1616

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) was the greatest playwright, poet and actor of the English Renaissance. Born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, he is known as the "Bard of Avon." He wrote roughly thirty-seven to thirty-nine plays, one hundred and fifty-four sonnets and narrative poems. His representative works include Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet. His works span tragedy, comedy and history play, distinguished by rich, poetic language and profound characterization. His explorations of human nature, power, love and fate have had a lasting influence, and his works have been translated into many languages and circulated widely around the world.