The true story of a boy whose life was saved by literature, Hamlet's Dresser is a portrait of a person made whole by art. Bob Smith's childhood was a fragile and lonely one, spent largely caring for his handicapped sister, Carolyn. But at age ten, his local librarian gave him a copy of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, and it transformed him. In Bob's first look at Shakespeare's penetrating language -- In sooth I know not why I am so sad -- he had found a window through which to view the world. Years later, when the American Shakespeare Festival moved into Stratford and Smith was hired as... View More...
The true story of a boy whose life was saved by literature, Hamlet's Dresser is a portrait of a person made whole by art. Bob Smith's childhood was a fragile and lonely one, spent largely caring for his handicapped sister, Carolyn. But at age ten, his local librarian gave him a copy of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, and it transformed him. In Bob's first look at Shakespeare's penetrating language -- In sooth I know not why I am so sad -- he had found a window through which to view the world. Years later, when the American Shakespeare Festival moved into Stratford and Smith was hired as... View More...
The true story of a boy whose life was saved by literature, Hamlet's Dresser is a portrait of a person made whole by art. Bob Smith's childhood was a fragile and lonely one, spent largely caring for his handicapped sister, Carolyn. But at age ten, his local librarian gave him a copy of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, and it transformed him. In Bob's first look at Shakespeare's penetrating language -- In sooth I know not why I am so sad -- he had found a window through which to view the world. Years later, when the American Shakespeare Festival moved into Stratford and Smith was hired as... View More...
Act-by-act synopses of all the plays are given. To suggest the flavor of the original, actual quotations from the plays are woven into the narratives and the descriptions of characters listed in the dramatis personae. The introduction covers Shakepeare's life and times, sources, and other background material. Illustrations, maps, a selected bibliography, and two helpful genealogical charts are included.
Shakespeare, and his Elizabethan audiences were very interested in the supernatural - ghosts, fairies, and the various powers of magicians and enchanters. All ensuing views of fairies and fairyland - from Shakespeare's time to the present - are hugely influenced by the Bard's plays and poetry. Myriad illustrators have depicted Shakesperean fairies, and we here present som of our favorites with quotations from his plays. Included are such luminary artists and illustrators as John Everett Milais, Arthur Rackham and Joshua Reynolds. Among the plays illustrated are Macbeth. The Tempest and, of cou... View More...
This work explains Shakespeare's life in easy terms: the bard's life and background; Elizabethen England and the world of the Globe theatre; the plots of Shakespeare's plays; the characters; important themes and imagery; literary techniques; his sonnets; and interpretations of his work. View More...
The Poems Shakespeare's greatest achievement in nondramatic verse was his collection of 154 magnificent sonnets that portray a tumultuous world of love, rivalry, and conflict among a poet, an aristocratic young man, a rival poet, and a mysterious "dark lady." More profound than other Elizabethan sonnet sequences and never surpassed as archetypes of the form, these poems explore almost every imaginable emotional complexity related to love and friendship. Some poems are dark, bitter, and self-hating, others express idealism with unmatchable eloquence-and all are of quintessential beauty, part of... View More...
T.S. Eliot once wrote that, "Shakespeare gives the greatest width of human passion," and it is this passion that has traditionally made The Sonnets appealing to literati and laymen alike. Surrounded by mystery, these poems of devotion and jealousy, of a young courtier and a Dark Lady, have been the subject of endless speculation. They are highly mystical and at the same time highly honest; as W. H. Auden wrote, "...what is astonishing about the sonnets, especially when one remembers the age in which they were written, is the impression they make of naked autobiographical confession." Because t... View More...
A quick-reference, handy guide to the plays of Shakespeare encompasses six thousand entries that cover historical dates and facts, the plots of every play, a profile of every major character, criticsm from the most eminent scholars, and a glossary. View More...
