《十四行詩》在莎士比亞的全部作品中佔有非常重要的地位，詩集收有154首詩，大致認為作於1592年至1598年，1609年於倫敦首次出版。詩集分為兩部分，第一部分為前126首，獻給一個年輕的貴族（Fair Lord），詩人的詩熱烈地歌頌了這位朋友的美貌以及他們的友情；第二部分為第127首至最後，獻給一位「黑女士」（Dark Lady），描寫愛情。
十四行詩是源於義大利民間的一種抒情短詩，文藝復興初期時盛行於整個歐洲，其結構十分嚴謹，分為上下兩部分，上段為八行，下段為六行，每行十一個音節，韻腳排列：abba abba,cdc ded。莎士比亞的十四行詩的結構卻更嚴謹，他將十四個詩行分為兩部分，第一部分為三個四行，第二部分為兩行，每行十個音節，韻腳為：abab,cdcd,efef,gg。這樣的格式後來被稱為「莎士比亞式」或「伊莉莎白式」。對詩人而言，詩的結構越嚴禁就越難抒情，而莎士比亞的十四行詩卻毫不拘謹，自由奔放，正如他的劇作天馬行空，其詩歌的語言也富於想象，感情充沛。
This is the first edition of Shakespeare's sonnets and other poems to be developed by and for the RSC, the world's leading theater company, and it includes unique material to help the reader understand and enjoy Shakespeare. It features: outstanding on-page notes which explain words and phrases unfamiliar to a modern audience, including the slang, political references and bawdy humor often ignored or censored in competing editions; completely new introduction by Jonathan Bate, exploring the text and critical debates around it; and, clear, easy-to-read page design, with a single sonnet to each page.Developed in conjunction with the Royal Shakespeare Company, this fresh edition of Shakespeare's sonnets and other poems offers a completely new introduction from renowned scholar Jonathan Bate, outstanding on-page explanatory notes and a clear, easy-to-read design.
About the Author
JONATHAN BATE is Professor of Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature, University of Warwick, UK, and the editor of The RSC Shakespeare: The Complete Works. He has held visiting posts at Harvard, Yale and UCLA and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, a Fellow of the British Academy, an Honorary Fellow of St Catherine's College, Cambridge, and a Governor and Board member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. A prominent critic, award-winning biographer and broadcaster, he is the author of several books on Shakespeare, including The Genius of Shakespeare (Picador), which was praised by Sir Peter Hall, founder of the RSC, as "the best modern book on Shakespeare." In June 2006 he was awarded a CBE by HM The Queen 'for services to Higher Education'. ERIC RASMUSSEN is Professor of English at the University of Nevada, USA, and the Textual Editor of The RSC Shakespeare: The Complete Works. He is co-editor of the Norton Anthology of English Renaissance Drama and has edited volumes in both the Arden Shakespeare and Oxford World's Classics series. He is the General Textual Editor of the Internet Shakespeare Editions project - one of the most visited Shakespeare websites in the world. For over nine years he has written the annual review of editions and textual studies for the Shakespeare Survey.
