The young king of Navarre swears, together with his close friends, three years of study and strict abstinence from love and earthly pleasures. But their oath is immediately put to the test when the Princess of France and her followers arrive at the court for negotiations. Shakespeare's youthful play, Love Struggle Barren is a charming composition of youthful romance, philosophical monologues, frenetic lyricism, passionate love letters, sonnets, disguises and “acrobatic” alternations from “dry” prose to elaborate rhyme. Above all, however, this original is one of the most moving treatises ever written about the power and futility of love.