Category: Venus and Adonis

Thank you to Adam G. Hooks for introducing us to “Venus and Adonis.”

Adam G. Hooks is an Associate Professor in the Department of English and the Center for the Book at the University of Iowa.  He is the author of Selling Shakespeare: Biography, Bibliography, and the Book Trade. Learn more at shakespeare.forsale/.

In 2016, Adam curated the exhibition “The Books That Made Shakespeare” at the University of Iowa. You can access an online version of the exhibition here. 

Read more about Adam’s teaching and research at the website Anchora, which includes several online essays, as well as some of the amazing resources, materials, and activities in book studies taking place at the University of Iowa.

Many thanks to my friend Joey Bianco of Whim Wham for the animated video elements.

Here are some helpful resources to enhance your experience of “Venus and Adonis”:

• The Folger Shakespeare Library offers a good, succinct written introduction to “Venus and Adonis,” which also discusses Shakespeare’s source.
• Similarly, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has a wonderful little article about “Venus and Adonis” along with images of the first printed evidence of the poem.
• The Kennedy Center offers a brief video introduction to “Venus and Adonis.”
• Here’s a modern dramatic take on “Venus and Adonis.”

Enjoy these pieces of art that each express their take on the story of Venus and Adonis (if not Shakespeare’s poem itself).