Shakespeare’s Sonnets, Retold

Classic Love Poems with a Modern Twist

William Shakespeare author James Anthony author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Ebury Publishing

Published:8th Nov '18

Should be back in stock very soon

This hardback is available in another edition too:

Shakespeare’s Sonnets, Retold cover

Fall in love with Shakespeare's Sonnets, rewritten in modern English - reworked, retold and reimagined.

In doing so he breathes new life into the original poems and opens them up for a modern readership, demystifying Shakespeare’s eternal poetry with provocative new translations and delightful new lines.

'James Anthony has done something I would have confidently stated to be impossible. He has "translated" Shakespeare’s sonnets and he has done so with an insolent, loveable charm … A dazzling success’ – Stephen Fry

Rediscover the greatest love poetry ever written

Shall I compare you to a summer’s day?
You’re more delightful, always shining strong;
High winds blow hard on flowering buds in May,
And summer never seems to last that long


Shakespeare’s sonnets are some of the nation’s favourite lines of verse, but the Elizabethan language can make it difficult to really understand them. Many guides offer to clarify the meaning, but lose the magic of the words by explaining them away.

James Anthony has done something boldly different.

He has rewritten the whole series of poems as sonnets using modern language, while retaining the rhythm and rhyme patterns that gives them such power. In doing so he breathes new life into the original poems and opens them up for a modern readership, demystifying Shakespeare’s eternal poetry with provocative new translations and delightful new lines.

Presented as an attractive book with the original sonnets facing their new translations, this is a stunning collection of beautiful love poems, made new.

James Anthony has done something I would have confidently stated to be impossible. He has ‘translated’ Shakespeare’s sonnets and he has done so with an insolent, loveable charm … A dazzling success * Stephen Fry *

ISBN: 9780753553138

Dimensions: 202mm x 144mm x 32mm

Weight: 400g

336 pages