The poetry of John Stewart of Baldynneis, one of James VI's soi disant Castalian Band, is a relatively unknown phenomenon of the Renaissance period. This book is a critical edition of his epic poem Roland Furious, supposedly a translation of Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso into Scots but actually a brilliantly original poem which directly follows guidelines given by James VI for the creation of such literature in the Scottish vernacular. A fully annotated version of the text is given, along w...
Romeo and Juliet: Language and Writing (Arden Student Skills: Language and Writing)
by Catherine Belsey
Everyone knows the story of the star-crossed lovers but close attention to the language of the play can deepen and darken the legend. As icons of passion, Romeo and Juliet reveal the recklessness, as well as the idealism, of desire in a violent world. Catherine Belsey shows how you can tease out the play's subtle meanings and goes on to discuss key adaptations, including the classic Baz Lurhmann film.
Shakespeare's Sonnets (Shakespeare Criticism)
Shakespeare's Sonnets: Critical Essays is the essential Sonnets anthology for our time. This important collection focuses exclusively on contemporary criticism of the Sonnets, reprinting three highly influential essays from the past decade and including sixteen original analyses by leading scholars in the field. The contributors' diverse approaches range from the new historicism to the new bibliography, from formalism to feminism, from reception theory to cultural materialism, and from biographi...
The influence of censorship on the intellectual and political life in the Habsburg Monarchy during the period under scrutiny can hardly be overstated. With censorship still employed in many regions of the world today, readers will discover various striking differences—as well as numerous astounding similarities—to current practices of censorship in this book.
"Shakespeare on Love and Lust" looks at the complex and sometimes contradictory expressions of love in Shakespeare's works - ranging from the serious to the absurd and back again - and argues that they arise primarily from his dramatic and theatrical flair rather than from a unified philosophy of love. Untangling his witty, bawdy (and ambiguous) treatment of love, sex and desire requires a sharp eye and a steady hand. In "Shakespeare on Love and Lust", scholar Maurice Charney delves into Shakesp...
This survey of past and present controversies about Shakespearian drama asks about the question: Do the plays hold a mirror up to nature? If so, what is the nature of the "nature" reflected in plays as different as Hamlet and As You Like It?K Is the poet on the side of the angels or, in fact, "of the devil's party" in a play like Richard III? Are Hamlet and Cleopatra more to be morally censured than pitied or admired? How seriously should we take the comedies? Rather than attempting to answer th...
The Connell Guide To Shakespeare's Macbeth (The Connell Guide To)
by Graham Bradshaw
Harrying considers Richard III and the four plays of Shakespeare’s Henriad—Richard II, Henry IV Part 1, Henry IV Part 2, and Henry V. Berger combines close reading with cultural analysis to show how the language characters speak always says more than the speakers mean to say. Shakespeare’s speakers try to say one thing. Their language says other things that often question the speakers’ motives or intentions. Harrying explores the effect of this linguistic mischief on the representation of all t...
Romantic Criticism of Shakespearian Drama (Salzburg studies in Romantic reassessment, #79)
by John Crawford
"Romeo and Juliet" (Paragon Summaries, #11)
This insight into both the man and his work features a full synopsis and character analysis, as well as reader's notes for each play. Important themes and metaphors are revealed, and each play is examined in the context of its time and place.
"SparkNotes Literature Guides" is an invaluable series tackling some of the most important novels ever written and studied. Created by Harvard students for students everywhere, these indispensable study aids are thorough and informative. They feature explanations of key themes, motifs, and symbols, detailed analyses of major characters and important quotes, plot summaries and analysis, an exploration of historical context, plus key facts and potential essay topics - everything a student needs to...
"Twelfth Night" (Paragon Summaries, #12)
Shakespeare and Impure Aesthetics
by Associate Professor English Department Hugh Grady
Cross-dressing, sexual identity, and the performance of gender are among the most hotly discussed topics in contemporary cultural studies. A vital addition to the growing body of literature, this book is the most in-depth and historically contextual study to date of Shakespeare's uses of the heroine in male disguise--man-playing-woman-playing-man--in all its theatrical and social complexity. Shapiro's study centers on the five plays in which Shakespeare employed the figure of the female page: Th...