The Rape of Lucrece is a narrative poem by William Shakespeare about the legendary Roman noblewoman Lucretia. In his previous narrative poem, Venus and Adonis, Shakespeare had included a dedicatory letter to his patron, the Earl of Southampton, in which he promised to compose a “graver labour”.
William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's greatest dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the “Bard of Avon”.
