Thinking Shakespeare gives theater artists practical advice about how to make Shakespeare’s words feel spontaneous, passionate, and real. Based on Barry Edelstein’s thirty-year career directing Shakespeare’s plays, this book provides the tools that artists need to fully understand and express the power of Shakespeare’s language.

'This Complete Sonnets and Poems is a distinguished addition to a distinguished series. It will repay continuing study, and act as a valuable point of reference for readers concerned more generally with Shakespeare's art and language. Colin Burrow's good sense, tact and balance as aneditor are deeply impressive.' -H. R. Woudhuysen, Times Literary SupplementThis is the only fully annotated and modernized edition to bring together Shakespeare's Sonnets as well as all his poems (including those attributed to him after his death). A full introduction discusses his development as a poet, and how the poems relate to his plays; detailed notes explain the language and allusions in clear modern English. While accessibly written, the edition takes account of the most recent scholarship and criticism.

The sonnets are among the most accomplished and fascinating poems in the English language. They are central to an understanding of Shakespeare's work as a poet and poetic dramatist, and while their autobiographical relevance is uncertain, no account of Shakespeare's life can afford to ignore them. So many myths and superstitions have arisen around these poems, relating for example to their possible addressees, to their coherence as a sequence, to their dates of composition, to their relation to other poetry of the period and to Shakespeare's plays, that even the most naïve reader will find it difficult to read them with an innocent mind. Shakespeare's Sonnets dispels the myths and focuses on the poems. Considering different possible ways of reading the Sonnets, Wells and Edmondson place them in a variety of literary and dramatic contexts--in relation to other poetry of the period, to Shakespeare's plays, as poems for performance, and in relation to their reception and reputation. Selected sonnets are discussed in depth, but the book avoids the jargon of theoretical criticism. Shakespeare's Sonnets is an exciting contribution to the Oxford Shakespeare Topics, ideal for students and the general reader interested in these intriguing poems.

A new view of Shakespeare's sonnets that brings them alive as a chronicle of political intrigue, passion, and betrayal.

A Goodreads Choice Award nominee The Bard meets the Backstreet Boys in this collection of 100 classic pop songs reimagined as Shakespearean sonnets This hilarious book of poetry transforms disco staples, classic rock anthems, and recent chart-toppers into hilarious iambic pentameter! All your favorite songs are here, including hits by Jay-Z, Johnny Cash, Katy Perry, Michael Jackson, Talking Heads, and many others. An entertaining journey into the world of Elizabethan poetry, and based on the immensely popular Tumblr of the same name, Pop Sonnets is the perfect gift for Shakespeare fans and music lovers alike. “Ever wonder what Taylor Swift and Beyoncé would sound like in iambic pentameter? We hadn’t either, but now we can't get enough.” —TIME

Actor, producer and director Ben Crystal revisits his acclaimed book on Shakespeare for the 400th anniversary of his death, updating and adding three new chapters. Shakespeare on Toast knocks the stuffing from the staid old myth of the Bard, revealing the man and his plays for what they really are: modern, thrilling, uplifting drama. The bright words and colourful characters of the greatest hack writer are brought brilliantly to life, sweeping cobwebs from the Bard – his language, his life, his world, his sounds, his craft. Crystal reveals man and work as relevant, accessible and alive – and, astonishingly, finds Shakespeare's own voice amid the poetry. Whether you're studying Shakespeare for the first time or you've never set foot near one of his plays but have always wanted to, this book smashes down the walls that have been built up around this untouchable literary figure. Told in five fascinating Acts, this is quick, easy and good for you. Just like beans on toast.

This illustrated book, divided into three sections: comedies, tragedies, historical plays and poems, celebrates the entire body of Shakespeare's works.

'A spicy work of biographical conjecture ... It's also a rousing reminder of the countless creative women who have been written out of history or have had to fight relentlessly to make themselves heard.' EVENING STANDARD 'The great virtue of Lloyd Malcolm's speculative history lies in its passion and anger: it ends with a blazing address to the audience that is virtually a call to arms. It is throughout, however, a highly theatrical piece ... In rescuing Emilia from the shades, [the play] gives her dramatic life and polemical potency.' GUARDIAN The little we know of Emilia Bassano Lanier (1569 - 1645) is that she may have been the Dark Lady of Shakespeare's Sonnets, mistress of Lord Chamberlain, one of the first English female poets to be published, a mother, teacher who founded a school for women, and radical feminist with North African ancestry. Living at a time when women had such limited opportunities, Emilia Lanier is therefore a fascinating subject for this speculative history. In telling her story, Morgan Lloyd Malcolm represents the stories of women everywhere whose narratives have been written out of history. Originally commissioned for Shakespeare's Globe with an all-female cast, Emilia is published here as a Methuen Drama Student Edition with commentary and notes by Elizabeth Schafer, Professor of Drama at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK.

The Two Noble Kinsmen is Shakespeare’s final play written before his death in 1616. He collaborated on it with John Fletcher; later, Fletcher took over as playwright for the King’s Men. The plot derives from “The Knight’s Tale” in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Thebes and Athens are at war. The tyrant Creon of Thebes commands Arcite and Palamon to fight for him. After a battle against Theseus, they end up captured and imprisoned. From their cell window, they see a beautiful woman named Emilia. Arcite and Palamon’s friendship turns into rivalry when they challenge each other to a fight to the death—with the victor claiming Emilia. This Standard Ebooks edition is based on the 1894 Royal Shakespeare edition. This book is part of the Standard Ebooks project, which produces free public domain ebooks.

With full coverage of the thirty-nine Shakespearian plays (including a synopsis, full character list, stage history, and a critical essay for each), this comprehensive guide is both a quick reference and an in-depth background guide for theatre goers, students, film buffs, and lovers of literature. Along with an exploration of the Bard's sonnets and narrative poems, The Globe Guide to Shakespeare features fascinating accounts of Shakespeare's life and the Globe Theater itself, with colorful details about each play's original performance.This comprehensive guide includes up-to-date reviews of the best films and audio recordings of each play, from Laurence Olivier to Baz Luhrmann, Kozintsev to Kurosawa. The Globe Guide to Shakespeare is the quintessential celebration of all things Shakespearian.