Venus and Adonis

(1593). Written by a youthful Shakespeare at the time that London’s theatres closed their doors in fear of the Plague. Venus and Adonis is an epic poem of wit and sensuous beauty. It tells the tale of the sex goddess, Venus and her passionate obsession for the petulant and beautiful Adonis. He rejects her offer of love, preferring the joys of boar hunting. However, after finally succumbing to her advances, the story ends in tragedy.

William Shakespeare wrote Venus and Adonis during the Plague epidemic of 1593 when London’s theatres were forced to close. He was 28 years old and his career as a playwright had barely got off the ground. Venus and Adonis was his first work to be published and was an instant bestseller, its huge popularity due in no small part to its erotic passages and vivid narrative.