The Playwright as Poet

Two sides of the same coin most would say. And without doubt for the majority of authors in this wide-ranging collection that would be absolutely right.Shakespeare was equally at home with drama or poetry, but he was exceptional. We have not seen his like before or since on such a scale. His contemporaries Fletcher, Fairfax and the many more that followed sometimes also wove their verse into their dramas and comedies, others such as Marlowe and Behn wrote both within their plays and as separate works.Words are an exceptional creation. The building blocks of language built to convey, discuss and share our most complex thoughts and ideas and writers, whether they be of prose, poetry or plays, use their given or honed gifts in elaborate ways to explore themes, reflect on happenings; the inky blood that help shape our cultural bodies, our human spirit.1 - The Playwright As Poet - An Introduction2 - Song of the Furies by Aeschylus3 - Fragment by Aeschylus4 - Long Life Not to Be Desired by Sophocles5 - The Vine of Bacchus by Sophocles6 - The Precarious Life of Man by Euripides7 - O For the Wings of a Dove by Euripides8 - Song of the Clouds (from The Clouds) by Aristophanes9 - The Poet's Apology by Aristophanes10 - Neath This Tall Pine by Plato11 - Love Asleep by Plato12 - The Salad or Pesto from the Latin Moretum by Virgil13 - Heauton Timorumenos (The Self-Tormentor). Prologue by Terence14 - Sonnet by Miguel de Cervantes15 - Ovillejos by Miguel de Cervantes16 - Hot Sun, Cool Fire by George Peele17 - The Sad Shepherd's Passion of Love by George Peele18 - I Serve a Mistress by Anthony Munday19 - In the Mirror of Mutability by Anthony Munday20 - Yet Might She Love Me by Thomas Kyd21 - A Description of Fever by George Chapman22 - Courage by George Chapman23 - Beauty, Time and Love by Samuel Daniel24 - Fair is My Love and Cruel as She's Fair by Samuel Daniel25 - To Night by Lope de Vega26 - Tomorrow by Lope de Vega27 - Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare28 - Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare29 - Sonnet 14 - Not From the Stars Do I My Judgement Pluck by William Shakespeare30 - Fair Summer Droops From Summer's Last Will And Testament by Thomas Nashe31 - A Litany in Time of Plague by Thomas Nashe32 - On Playwright by Ben Jonson33 - On Poet-Ape by Ben Jonson34 - The Passionate Shepherd To His Love by Christopher Marlowe35 - Who Ever Loved That Loved Not At First Sight by Christopher Marlowe36 - The Merry Month of May by Thomas Dekker37 - Heaven by Edward Fairfax38 - Care Charming Sleep by John Fletcher39 - A Dirge by John Webster40 - The Madman's Song by John Webster41 - How Near I Am to Happiness by Thomas Middleton42 - Anacreontic by Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft43 - Friendship by Pieter Cornelisazoon Hooft44 - Death Invoked by Philip Massinger45 - The Condition of Kings Human by Philip Massinger46 - On the Tombs at Westminster Abbey by Francis Beaumont47 - The Glance by Francis Beaumont48 - A Bridal Song by John Ford49 - Oh No More, No More by John Ford50 - Cease Warring Thoughts by James Shirley51 - The Glories of Our Blood and State by James Shirley52 - The Dream Called Life by Pedro Calderon de la Barca53 - Praise and Prayer by William Davenant54 - To a Mistress Dying by William Davenant55 - An Apology For Her Poetry by Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle56 - The Hunting of the Hare by Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle57 - Farewell Ungrateful Traitor by John Dryden58 - The Medal - A Satire Against Sedition59 - Phaedra (An Extract) by Raccine60 - The Disappointment by Aphra Behn61 - Love Armed by Aphra Behn62 - From Love To Friendship by Voltaire63 - To a Lady Very Well Known to the Whole Town by Voltaire64 - The Enchantment by Thomas Otway65 - Whilst Shepherds Watch'd by Nahum Tate66 - The Tea-Table by Nahum Tate67 - A Hue and Cry After Fair Amoret by William Congreve68 - False Though She Be by William Congreve69 - The Blind Boy by Colley Cibber70 - Hope by Joseph Addison71 - The Spacious Firmament by Joseph Addison72 - The Fable of the Shepherd and Wolf by John Gay73 - The Rat-Catcher and Cats by John Gay74 - A Letter to Sir Robert Walpole by Henry Fielding75 - A Pipe of Tobacco by Henry Fielding76 - The Youth and the Philsopher by William Whitehead77 - The Je Ne Sais Quoi by William Whitehead78 - An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog by Oliver Goldsmith79 - The Village by Oliver Goldsmith80 - Alexander by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing81 - Calm at Sea by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe82 - Next Year's Spring by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe83 - A Portrait by Richard Brinsley Sheridan84 - A Funeral Fantasie by Friedrich Schiller85 - The Two Guides of Life - The Sublime and the Beautiful by Fredrich Schiller86 - Proud Maisie by Walter Scott87 - My Native Land by Walter Scott88 - She Walks In Beauty by Lord Byron89 - The Isles of Greece by Lord Byron90 - The Dream by Alexander Pushkin91 - The Poet by Aleksandr Pushkin92 - Boaz Asleep by Victor Hugo93 - The Beacon in the Storm by Victor Hugo94 - The Last Man by Thomas Lovell Beddoes95 - The Clock Striking Midnight by Thomas Lovell Beddoes96 - My Last Duchess by Robert Browning97 - Confessions by Robert Browning98 - In the Picture Gallery by Henrik Ibsen99 - Thanks by Henrik Ibsen100 - The Phantom Train by Tom Hood101 - The Loji Expedition by Tom Hood102 - Before Sunrise on Helvellyn by Hall Caine103 - After Sunset by Hall Caine104 - Endymion by Oscar Wilde105 - Serenade by Oscar WIlde106 - Faith and Words by Israel Zangwill107 - The Cynic by Israel Zangwill108 - He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven by W B Yeats109 - The Poet Pleads with the Elemental Powers by W B Yeats110 - The Curse by J M Synge111 - Queens by John Millington Synge112 - Preludes by T S Eliot113 - Whispers of Immortality by T S Eliot114 - The Guitar - La Guitarra by Frederico Garcia Lorca115 - Train Ride by Federico Garcia Lorca