Four of the great playwright's more in-depth poems include 'Venus and Adonis,' which recounts the romance between the goddess of love and her handsome swain, 'A Lover's Complaint,' a narrative poem voiced by a seduced and abandoned woman, 'The Phoenix and the Turtle,' an allegory concerning the death of ideal love, and 'The Rape of Lucrece,' a narrative poem based on an ancient Roman legend.