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Shakespeare Connected - Imagining New Place

13. At New Place

This sonnet, written by popular poet Wendy Cope, describes her personal experience of the New Place gardens. It forms part of a collection of poetic work commissioned by The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust for the 2016 anniversary. Cope’s sonnet paints a unique and personal picture of Shakespeare at home. For me, it provides a relatable link between us and the playwright as we imagine him shovel in hand, wandering about the gardens at New Place. But what does it mean to you?


‘At New Place’
By Wendy Cope, 2016, manuscript sonnet
Published in W. Cope Anecdotal Evidence (Faber and Faber, 2018), limited edition (Celandine Press, 2016)