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William Shakespeare made his name as a poet before he became famous as a playwright. His erotic poem Venus and Adonis was the most popular work of literature of the Elizabethan Age, while its dark companion piece The Rape of Lucrece set the mould for Shakespeare’s exploration of the tragic consequences of sexual desire turning to violence. 

Jonathan Bate will show how Shakespeare developed these themes from his reading of the great Roman poet Ovid.

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This event was on Tue, 23 Jan 2018

jonathan bate

Professor Sir Jonathan Bate

Professor of Rhetoric

Professor Bate is Gresham Professor of Rhetoric. He is a British academic, biographer, critic, broadcaster, novelist and scholar. He specialises in Shakespeare, Romanticism and Ecocriticism.

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