ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Shakespeare published two long poems, among his earliest successes: Venus and Adonis in 1593 and The Rape of Lucrece in 1594. These poems were dedicated to his patron the Earl of Southampton. Venus and Adonis was Shakespeare’s first-published work.

Detailed explanation-2: -Two of Shakespeare’s longer poems, ‘Venus and Adonis’ (1593) and ‘The Rape of Lucrece’ (1594) were dedicated to him. This has led some critics to suggest that he could be the ‘Fair Youth’ addressed in Shakespeare’s Sonnets 1–126.

Detailed explanation-3: -Shakespeare was probably a founder member of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, the acting company established under the patronage of Henry Carey, 1st Lord Hunsdon, in 1594.

Detailed explanation-4: -But he also relied on a series of patrons, without whom there never would have been a Shakespeare. The first patron was probably his friend Edward Manners, third Earl of Rutland.

Detailed explanation-5: -His patron The following is an imagined account from the life of Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, who was William Shakespeare’s friend and patron, and the only person to whom Shakespeare himself dedicated any of his works.