{"product_id":"shakespeares-sonnets-retold-isbn-9781984823465","title":"Shakespeare's Sonnets, Retold","description":"\u003cb\u003eAn enlightening and entertaining collection of the most esteemed love poems in the English canon, retold in contemporary language everyone can understand\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e James Anthony has long enjoyed poetry with a strict adherence to beat, rhythm, and rhyming patterns, which he likens to the very best pop songs. This drew him to the rewarding 14-line structure of Shakespeare’s sonnets, yet he often found their abstract language frustratingly unintelligible. One day, out of curiosity, he rewrote Sonnet 18—\u003ci\u003eShall I compare thee to a summer’s day\u003c\/i\u003e—line-by-line, in the strict five-beat iambic pentameter and rhyming patterns of the original, but in a contemporary language a modern reader could easily understand. The meaning and sentiment—difficult to spot, initially—came to life, revealing new intricacies in the workings of Shakespeare's heart.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e And so, James embarked on a full-time, year-long project to rewrite all 154 of the Bard's eternal verses creating SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS, RETOLD. This collection of masterful reinterpretations brilliantly demystifies and breathes new life into Shakespeare's work, demonstrating the continued resonance of a playwright whose popularity remains over 400 years after his death. Now, the passion, heartbreak, deception, reconciliation, and mortality of Shakespeare’s originals can be understood by all, without the need to cross reference to an enjoyment-sapping study-guide. Coming with a foreword by Stephen Fry, this is a stunning collection of beautiful love poems made new.“A dazzling success…. Aside from the pleasure any reader can derive from this achievement, schools and colleges will stamp and cheer with unrestrained gratitude and delight.” —\u003cb\u003eStephen Fry\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eWilliam Shakespeare\u003c\/b\u003e was born in 1564, the son of a glove-maker from Stratford-upon-Avon, and spent much of his adult life in London. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. Shakespeare's poetry first appeared in 1593, dedicated to his patron Henry Wriothesley, the 3rd Earl of Southampton. It is unknown when he wrote each sonnet, but the collection was first published in 1609. He died in 1616, aged 52.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eJames Anthony\u003c\/b\u003e was born in 1970, the son of an engineer from Peterborough, and has spent much of his adult life in London. James cut his teeth building cars for the Ford Motor Company in Dagenham, and \u003ci\u003eShakespeare’s Sonnets, Retold\u003c\/i\u003e is his first published work of poetry. He has no aristocratic patron, but, for the time being, remains very much alive. He lives in New York City with his beloved wife, Versha.***This excerpt is from an advance uncorrected copy proof*** \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCopyright © 2018 William Shakespeare \u0026amp; James Anthony\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e1\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom fairest creatures we desire increase,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThat thereby beauty’s rose might never die,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut as the riper should by time decease,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHis tender heir might bear his memory:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut thou, contracted to thine own bright eyes,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFeed’st thy lights flame with self-substantial fuel,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMaking a famine where abundance lies,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThyself thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThou that art now the world’s fresh ornament,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd only herald to the gaudy spring,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWithin thine own bud buriest thy content,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd, tender churl, mak’st waste in niggarding.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e            Pity the world, or else this glutton be,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e            To eat the world’s due, by the grave and thee.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e1\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe strive to procreate with gorgeous folk\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSo that our beauty won’t capitulate;\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe reach a ripe old age, but then we croak;\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOur memories live through offspring we create.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut you’re in love with you, and you alone,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSo self-consumed, your face is all you see,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDepriving us of children of your own,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd hence you are your own worst enemy.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNow you are young and walking in your prime,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWell set to raise a daughter or a son,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut you’re content to piss away your time,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd—silly fool!—your days will soon be done.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e            Take pity on your world, or go awry;\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e            Have children now, for one day you will die.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e2\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen forty winters shall besiege thy brow,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd dig deep trenches in thy beauty’s field,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThy youth’s proud livery so gazed on now,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWill be a tatter’d weed of small worth held:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThen being asked, where all thy beauty lies,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhere all the treasure of thy lusty days;\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTo say within thine own deep sunken eyes,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWere an all-eating shame, and thriftless praise.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHow much more praise deserv’d thy beauty’s use,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIf thou couldst answer “This fair child of mine\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eShall sum my count, and make my old excuse,”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eProving his beauty by succession thine.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e            This were to be new made when thou art old,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e            And see thy blood warm when thou feel’st it cold.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e2\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen forty years have weather-worn your face\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd wrinkled skin forms crow’s-feet ’round your eyes,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eYour youthful look we presently embrace\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWill be a shabby rag, no more a prize.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen old, when asked, “Where is your beauty now?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e What’s left of lusty days from yesteryear?”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTo say, “I drank, and screwed it up somehow,”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBrings shame on you; that’s nothing to revere.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut all would praise your beauty ever more\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIf you could answer, “This sweet child of mine\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIs what I made, and what I came here for”;\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMy heir, my love, my beauty all combine.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e            Before you’re old, you can yourself re-form,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e            So, when you’re dead, your children’s blood runs warm.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e3\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLook in thy glass and tell the face thou viewest,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNow is the time that face should form another,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhose fresh repair if now thou not renewest,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThou dost beguile the world, unbless some mother.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor where is she so fair whose uneared womb\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDisdains the tillage of thy husbandry?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOr who is he so fond will be the tomb\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOf his self-love to stop posterity?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThou art thy mother’s glass, and she in thee\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCalls back the lovely April of her prime,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSo thou through windows of thine age shalt see,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDespite of wrinkles, this thy golden time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e            But if thou live remembered not to be,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e            Die single, and thine image dies with thee.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e3\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLook in the mirror, tell this to your face:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt’s time you had a child all of your own;\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor if not now, then when? Your warm embrace\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWill gift your world, and wife, a self-made clone.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor where’s the virgin girl so sexy she’d\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDecline to be the mother of your child?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd who’s the selfish fool preferring he’d\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelf-masturbate and not be recompiled?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eYou look just like your mom; in you she sees\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHer joyful passage through her younger time;\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd when you’re old, recounting memories\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThrough wrinkled eyes, right now you’ll call your prime.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e            But if you have no kids, know this is true:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e            Die single and your image dies with you.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e4\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUnthrifty loveliness, why dost thou spend\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUpon thyself thy beauty’s legacy?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNature’s bequest gives nothing, but doth lend,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd being frank, she lends to those are free:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThen, beauteous niggard, why dost thou abuse\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe bounteous largess given thee to give?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eProfitless usurer, why dost thou use\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSo great a sum of sums yet canst not live?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor having traffic with thyself alone,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThou of thyself thy sweet self dost deceive.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThen how, when nature calls thee to be gone,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat acceptable audit canst thou leave?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e            Thy unused beauty must be tombed with thee,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e            Which, used, lives th’executor to be.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e4\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eYou squand’ring handsome man, please answer this:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhy spend and waste your beauty on yourself?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis beauty is not yours, so don’t dismiss\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThat nature’s loan does not erode your wealth.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThen—gorgeous clown!—why do you still abuse\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe qualities that you’re supposed to share?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eYou wasteful bum! You’re blessed so why d’you choose\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTo think of what you have, not who you are?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJust jerking off at pornographic grot\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDeprives you of another one of you;\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThen when your days are done, you’ve served your lot,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhat legacy is left at your adieu?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e            You’ll take your unshared beauty to your grave,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e            But used would be the gift of life you gave.\u003c\/p\u003eForeword by Stephen Fry","brand":"Crown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304995967205,"sku":"NP9781984823465","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781984823465.jpg?v=1767736448","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/shakespeares-sonnets-retold-isbn-9781984823465","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}