William Wordsworth Books

Note: This is a review of the particular "Cambridge School Shakespeare" edition [Edited by Rex Gibson, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000] of As You Like it and not a review of the play itself.

This edition (a) contains the unabridged play and (b) tries to explain and elucidate Shakespeare's play to teenagers of the age of maybe 15-17. It clarifies difficult language, highlights the main conflicts, puts the play into a historical context and the context of the literary tradition that it belongs to. It encourages the reader to think of different possible ways to play the characters and different ways to understand the play.

I am not a teenager and I am not 16 years old any more, in fact, I am 53 years old with a PhD in Economics and a Masters in Psychology. I read Shakespeare for fun, to challenge my brain, and to grow personally. I found this edition of the play very helpful and enjoyable. The commentary neither spoiled my fun by overanalyzing or showing off its learnedness nor did it offend my intelligence by oversimplifying. In addition, the layout of the book is quite reader-friendly.

If you are a Shakespeare scholar or a scholar of English Lit, this edition will probably be too simple for you. For people of my caliber, however, I can really recommend this edition. Enjoy!

The Caedmon recording of As You Like It is well worth the purchase just to hear two Redgraves soar in their performances.

As with all of Shakespeare, the concept of love at first sight is given far too much credit, but other than that, this is a delightful romp filled with much amusement. The language is as beautiful as one expects in Shakespeare, but is somewhat less difficult for the modern reader to follow than in some of his plays; I found myself being more distracted than helped by most of the footnotes. As with most Shakespearean comedies, it was easy to see that this play was intended for the amusement of the common people; the similarities in style between the plot here and in much modern pop culture were striking (the sexual innuendo to be had when a woman passes for a man and finds another woman falling in love with her, for instance). If it had a flaw, it was that the ending was just a little TOO pat and contrived, even for a comedy, but that's just a minor quibble.

As far as Shakesepare's comedies go, "The Comedy of Errors" will always be my favorite. And while this "As You Like It" never quite obtained the popularity of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" or "The Taming of the Shrew," one probably could argue that "As You Like It" is the best of Shakespeare's comedies. This play contains several plots that Shakespeare cleverly intertwines and it offers a happy ending with love triumphant. But more important than the triumph of love, the theme of reconciliation carries through to virtually everyone in the story. The story begins with the sibling rivalry of Orlando and his older brother Oliver who has hoarded the family inheritence. After a brief fight, Oliver hopes that Orlando may accidentally die in a wrestling match against Charles. This is where a 2nd plot comes in. The Duke Frederick (who has a daughter Celia) has banished his older brother (the true Duke who has a daughter Rosalind). But for now, Rosalind is allowed to stay and she has made good friends with Celia. Orlando meets these 2 girls and falls into favor with Rosalind. After the wrestling match, things start to go bad. Orlando learns that his brother Oliver is planning to kill him, and Rosalind is banished. But all is not lost. Orlando takes his loyal servant Adam and flees while Rosalind (in the male disguise of Ganymede), along with Celia, and the comical Touchstone will flee to look for Rosalind's father. And here is where the play becomes mostly comical. (Good comedies can often have a sad start. "The Comedy of Errors" shows this well.) Moving on, we meet Rosalind's father and his crew who have made exile into a paradise. From Duke Sr's party, we meet the melancholy Jaques. But he is arguably the most interesting character in the story. (In fact, the most famous passage from this play belongs to Jaques. The 7 stages of man which end in nothing. Perhaps Macbeth took lessons from Jaques: 'Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow.') Duke Sr welcomes Orlando and Adam, and it isn't long before Orlando and Rosalind run into each other. Shakespeare maintains the comedy when Rosalinde keeps her male disguise on and tells Orlando he must practice wooing on him/her. Touchstone has some comical romantic moments with Audrey. And there is an interesting triangle where the shepherd Silvius loves Phebe, but Phebe loves Rosalinde (seeing only Ganymede)! We may recall this from "the 12th Night" when Olivia loved Viola in her male disguise. But after this comical moment, all begins to resolve. Oliver comes on the scene and he and Celia fall in love. (So much so that Oliver is willing to reconcile with Orlando and grant him all.) The play ends with not only the reunion of Rosalind and her father, but the joyous weddings of Rosalind / Orlando, Celia /Oliver, Audrey /Touchstone, and Phebe / Silvius, but more good news comes. Celia's father mends his ways and returns all to Rosalind's father. Jaques offers the crowning touch. Despite his cynical nature, he is NOT a villain. Ironically, this hermit type man converses with more characters than anyone in the story, and while he can not take part in the play's final happiness, he DOES wish everyone well. As I said, my favorite comedy will always be "The Comedy of Errors." But don't make the mistake of overlooking this comedy.

This has to be one of Shakespeare's gayest plays (no pun intended). Whatever tragedy may have occurred in the beginning - at the court - is totally forgotten when the action moves to the forest, where Robin-hood like; a banished duke, a melancholy philosopher and a cast of love sick characters act out their lives on the stage.

Much of the play is centered on Rosalind - the female lead in 'drag' - who falls in love with the third son of a nobleman, Orlando, who has been cheated out of his inheritance by his eldest brother. Her father, the duke, has also been cheated by a brother and is now living in the forest with his `merry men'. Her short stay at court is disrupted when her uncle changes his mind about her and `graciously' gives her a few days to get out of the kingdom. This event leads to her escape into the forests with her cousin, the daughter of the duke at Court. As the play progresses more and more characters end up in the forest which becomes the stage where all these actors play out their parts - to paraphrase Jacques.

As a reader you sometimes have to suspend rationality in order to swallow some of the larger than life events that occur in this story (The snake - Lion - Lion killer scene for example). It's not meant to be taken too seriously I'd imagine, just a play about love and romance and the lengths one will go to because of love. The only rational person in this play seems to be the Malvolio-like Jacques, whose deer hugging antiques (forerunner of modern day Environmentalism?) and refusal to take part in the revelry make him the butt of the other's jokes. Even the clown seems to have been pierced by Cupid's arrows as he too weds a country `wench', something unheard of in the other plays where the clowns all seem to be eunuchs.

If you're reeling from any of Shakespeare's tragedies, or want to escape the ordered, (courtly?) existence that is your life and take a dive into an almost fantasy-like world where all is love and laughter, this play may be your ticket.

It is called 'dark comedy' or 'light tragedy'. I am inclined to go with the later. I simply saw no humor in it, but it had a balanced and mostly just resolution, so it was not what I would normally call tragedy.

Angelo, the Duke's deputy is self-righteous hypocrite in command during the Duke's apparent absence. One of his strap-hangers is Lucio, a vile, deceitful, and utterly plausible political climber who grasps at all above him and attempts to step on all below him. Angelo and Lucio live today as a multitude within the D.C. beltway. Isabella, Claudio, Juliet, and Mariana are victims of these base and contemptable political hacks. Vincentio is a brave man caught in the middle, who helps out Isabella at the risk of his own future. The Duke leaves his deputy in charge as he pretends to go off, allegedly on a diplomatic mission. He remains in disguise to see the true nature of his deputy, and hurries out of disguise faster than he would have liked.

The story is grim, but the characters ring true. Good people at odds with vile men in power, and the vile men have deceived a good leader. Deputy's abusing their bosses' power. A man who accepts that doing the right thing is probably a career killer, while a two-faced, lick-spittle, sycophant appears to have a bright future. But with all this, the ending is as bright as can be hoped for.

A great play, but more satisfying than pleasurable.

E.M. Van Court

In order to truly appreciate Shakespeare's genius, I find it beneficial to see the plays performed. It makes the reading of the play later so much more enjoyable. This play is a wonderful tragic comedy. It is probably the darkest of all his comedies. Each of the characters faces his own epiphany and they are forced to come to terms with their own morality, as well as their own mortality. The play is gloomy and pessimistic. The play is set in Vienna. It forces the watcher of the play to reexamine all these issues in his or her own life. Very worthwhile.

Measure for Measure can best be described as Romeo and Juliet but with a happy ending. Or perhaps the sequel to Romeo and Juliet if the two hadn't taken such drastic measures (ha-ha!) at the end. In fact, the woman whose lover is short for this world is named Juliet and the play is once more set in Italy (though this time in Venice).

The play pokes fun at sex in and out of marriage and the "oldest profession" but beyond all the bawdy jokes, is a cautionary tale against morality based government. Juliet's lover, Claudio, is soon to be hanged for getting Juliet pregnant. It's an old law on the books, not enforced for ages until the Duke hands over the city to his would-be successor.
While the play may have been written at the turn of the seventeenth century, it is still relevant and on topic.

Great book! One of the classic Shakespeare dramas. Full of witty humor.

This is a darker comedy of Shakespeare's that was never so popular (except briefly in the 1700s). If you're willing to see past the fact that the hero (the Duke) is essentially playing God, it is an interesting play. Duke Vincentio is supposedly leaving for awhile, and he leaves Angelo in charge. Well, in comes the case of Claudio. Claudio has gotten his fiance Juliet pregnant before the wedding. (They still love each other, but they are not married yet. Some of you may know, the master Shakespeare himself was in this situation. He got his to be wife pregnant, and he had to marry her. It would seem that Shakespeare himself had something of a shotgun wedding.) Well, back to the play. Angelo is merciless and feels that only death is a suitable punishment. Claudio's sister Isabella (who is in the process of becoming a nun) pleads for mercy, and Angelo says he will consider it if Isabella agrees to sleep with him. Naturally, Isabella refuses. One character flaw is that when Isabella tells this to her doomed brother, he humanly asks her to at least consider it, and Isabella rebukes him in a fierce manner. Asimov put it best when he said: "She might not give into Claudio, but she might at least sympathize with his fear of death and forgive him his human weakness. She does not...Isabella shrieks out at her brother." Disguised as a friar, the duke calms Isabella down and tells her Claudio may still be saved. He tells her to agree to Angelo's demands, but Mariana (a girl Angelo desserted sometime ago) will go in her place. At the end of 3.2, the duke gives an interesting passage on the hypocrisy of people: "Shame to him whose cruel striking / kills for faults of his own liking" (3.2.270-271). Later there is an element of dark comedy when the Duke plans to have an older prisoner Barnadine killed in Claudio's place, but Barnadine is so drunk and he comically refuses the directions that will lead to his execution. (So much for that plan.) One thing I found somewhat repulsive in the duke is that he knows he is going to save Claudio, but he decides to play God and tell Isabella that Claudio is dead but she will be satisfied. By the end of the 4th act, we learn that Angelo has slept with Mariana (thinking she was Isabella) and he starts to show some elements of a conscience. (Though not quite as convincingly as Macbeth or Claudius do so.) By the 5th act, the duke is still playing god by allowing Isabella to think Claudio is dead, and pretending to go along with Angelo's accusations of Isabella. But eventually, all is revealed. Claudio is still alive and even Barnadine will be pardoned. Angelo must also marry Mariana. Many people feel that Angelo got off too easy, but remember, this is suppose to be a comedy, and Isaac Asimov put it best when he said: "...many critics (as savage as Angelo) condemn the play because they want to see the man hanged. Yet is it only for those we sympathize that mercy is to be sought?...It is precisely to those whom we hate that we must show mercy if the word is to have any meaning at all."

I'm from England and I'm studying this play for A level (as a mature student - normally taken when aged 17) but although the UK is the home of 'The Bard' this item is not available in the UK! I'm very impressed with Amazon.com who delivered it quickly and cheaply!

The CD itself is great. It really helps to hear the play, as the intonation is correct, which is sometimes difficult to do when reading it yourself.

The actors' voices are clear and suit their parts perfectly. I'd definitely recommend it - and I will look out for more titles in this series when I've finished studying this one!

Although this play is not one of Shakespeare's better known plays, it is one of his very best. It is a tragicomedy suffused by gentle melancholy. Unreasonable and cruel jealousy are also portrayed. We also have two endearing young lovers to liven up the story. These characters are very well-drawn, and the story is quite beautiful.

I have always favoured the Oxford Shakespeare series over others (Folger, etc), and the Winter's Tale is no exception. It's translation notes and lexigraphical assistance makes reading a joy and brings out the true heart and soul of one of Shakespeare's commonly overlooked tragi-comedies.

As usual in Shakespearean plays, the language here is very prettily written. As usual in Shakespearean comedies, there are plot holes that one could easily drive a tank squadron through. But since this is not just a comedy, but a tragicomedy, in which the first part is a tragedy and the second a comedy, not everything comes out well in the end: some worthy characters die. Also, as is usual for Shakespeare, we have a morality play on the evils of jealousy and closed-mindedness. Really, though, other than the pretty Shakespearean turns of phrase, there isn't much to recommend this book.

Early compilers of Shakespeare's plays classified this a comedy, but there is much tragedy in it. Later it was called a romance. Through irrational jealousy a king is apparently responsible for the deaths of his entire family -- wife, son and daughter -- by mid-play. Time is a character in the play and at his one appearance summarizes the passage of sixteen years. If you have an overy high regard for realism, you may not much enjoy this play, but that will be true of more of Shakespeare than just this one tale. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I look forward to seeing it. I've ordered the BBC DVD and it's being performed at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2006. These Cambridge School editions have the play's text on right-hand pages; they have summary, commentary and exercises, and vocabulary on the facing left-hand pages. As I read through the play, I'd read the summary, read the play text paying attention to vocabulary, and then read the commentary and exercises. Some additional, unusual vocabulary was only explained in the commentary. I felt I got a deeper understanding of the play than if I had just read the play proper.mmary, commentary and exercises, and vocabulary on the facing left-hand pages. As I read through the play, I'd read the summary, read the play text paying attention to vocabulary, and then read the commentary and exercises. Some additional, unusual vocabulary was only explained in the commentary. I felt I got a deeper understanding of the play than if I had just read the play proper.

For better or worse, Richard III's enduring image of the cunning, hunchbacked usurper, more monster than man, is immortalized in Will's tragic history of his bloody rise and fall. This version contains good notes, a superb intro, and even illustrations to liven the text!

King Richard III is my favourite historical play, but it ranks up there with my all-time favourites of Shakespeare. I read this play for the first time quite a while after I had read some of his better-known comedies and tragedies, but I absolutely love it. I have seen it performed outside under the stars and the theatre was an outdoor park filled with ruins. The play was held in different places throughout the park. It was absolutely breathtaking and something that I will never forget. Richard III is one of the most fascinating villains of history and in literature. Shakespeare's genius portrays Richard III in a way that shows the playgoers his physical deformity, but we also see that he possesses great charm and wit. He is the ultimate manipulator and is totally ruthless in the pursuit of his goals. Shakespeare's has written this play through the mind and actions of his hero, Richard III, so the audience is aware at all times what he is doing and trying to achieve. We see all his deviousness and manipulation. A truly wonderful play about a very memorable man.

Let's get one thing clear from the start: when I rate Shakespeare, I rate it against other Shakespeare; otherwise, the consistently high ratings would not be very informative. If I was rating this against the general run of literature available, it would unquestionably rate 5 stars.

So what brings it down to 4, as compared to other Shakespeare? Primarily a few places where it demands a bit too much suspension of disbelief; the language is some of Shakespeare's best, and is comparatively easy for a modern reader (I found most of the footnotes to be sufficiently unnecessary to be actually more distraction than help). But for one thing, if Richard is withered, hunchbacked, and deformed, how is it that he has been able to kill so many of his victims in battle? For another thing, is it REALLY plausible that Princess Anne would be persuaded as she was by someone with nothing more going for him than Richard? To paraphrase the scene,

Anne: You killed my husband and his father! I hate you I hate you I hate you!

Richard: But I only did it 'cause I'm hot for you, babe! Wanna marry me?

Anne: Welll...maybe. Let me think about it.

(And, in fact, she marries him. Just like that.)

Also, there are virtually NO characters in this play that are sympathetic, save perhaps for the two murdered children and Richmond, and we really don't see enough of them to feel much connection; it dilutes the effectiveness of the portrayal of Richard's evil when almost all of the other characters are, if not just as bad, certainly bad enough.

This historical drama, not exactly accurate for all I know (but who cares, it's Billy) depicts one of the best bad guys in all literature, to the point of caricature (and this rhymes!). Richard III is the impersonation of ugliness and pure evil: he is a man both morally and physically malformed, who gives everything for the sake of a vain and insignificant moment of power. He is pure rancour enveloped in hypocrisy and treason. He kills his relatives, including his two child nephews, then he marries his rival's widow, and finally he gets what he deserves screaming: "A horse! My kingdom for a horse!"

"Richard III" is a wonderful satire; as always with WS, the dialogues are perfect and the action supreme. It is not intended to be real history, but a satire of ambition run amok, of the lonely obsession for power and of the depths of evil which humans can reach. It has humorous moments and it was, in its times, good politics, since Richard belonged to the predecessors in power of Queen Elizabeth's family . Another masterpiece by the Bard.

Having never read Richard III, I knew that I would be in for a treat, but nothing quite THIS good. Originally labeled as The Tragedy of Richard III by Shakespeare, one can see, upon reading this enthralling play, why this history/tragedy firmly entrenched itself as one of The Bard's most prolifically performed plays with almost unrivaled longevity due to its immense popularity among the genteel and yeomen alike.

Although the much-maligned humpback King Richard was by no means a saint by any stretch, he was not, however, as wretchedly insidious as Shakespeare might have us believe. In an effort to pander to Queen Elizabeth, Shakespeare cast perhaps an overly morose shadow over the House of York. The play itself, interestingly enough, focuses not so much on the bloody ending of The War of Roses and the ascension to the throne of Henry VII(the grandfather of Elizabeth) as it does on the uncannily cunning connivances of Richard III. Richard's dastardly deeds, the sordid means to his end of usurping the crown, know no limits as he murders any and all who dare get in his way - and even those that don't(I suppose they're guilty by association).

Inextricably, although I by no means empathize with him even remotely, Richard somehow, despite his inordinately decadent reprobate ploys, coupled with his twisted soliloquies pleading to the audience his hopeless case, make him one entirely enigmatic, yet entirely captivating, antagonist that makes this play enticingly enjoyable -- in a most devilish kind of way.

"O coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me!"

I bought about ten of these because they are so easy to carry around and are printed with easy to read type and sell at a very good price. I have many other editions of Shakespeare's plays but these are perfect for what I wanted. I have lots of other editions with introductions, evaluations, etc. and I don't really need that in my bag. These editions are a great way to read the plays without carrying around five pounds of book!

this is shakespeare's most accessible comedy. it's a farce about mistaken identities among identical twins. nothing complicated here. the play has it's funny moments. it's not the bard's best comedy; that's 'much ado about nothing', imho. but this is not a bad place to start.

Shakespeare's vision grew tremendously over the course of his writing career. However, this play demonstrates that his uncanny power as an artist grew quickly and was present in some form from the very begining. It is exceedingly hard to buy the common notion that this was his first comedy when it is so much better than "The Two Gentlemen of Verona" in nearly every way. The dialogue is fast paced and screamingly funny. The characters interesting if broad and there are some surprising touches that, aside from being interesting in and of themselves, point down the road to later, darker comedies. Chief among these is the amazing opening, perhaps still unequaled in all comedy for the level of grimness. These are the first words uttered in a play long seen as a kind of sitcom of Shakespeare's plays: "Proceed, Solinus, to procure my fall, and by the doom of death end woes and all." The speaker is Egeon, a merchant about to be put to death for simply coming from the wrong country. The whole first scene feels like a cloud is hanging over it and there is a sense of fear-infused urgency that catches the mind off guard and makes the joyous, lunatic story all the more welcome while at the same time coloring it with real drama, making it all the more exciting. To be sure, there is little real depth and much of the play is like a sitcom but only the best of sitcoms and perhaps "Monty Python" at their most absurd is a better comparison. The plot is well chosen (from the Roman comic dramatist Plautus) and well handled. For some reason the play is not well known even among the early comedies which is a shame. It is probably the best of them, even surpassing the wonderful "The Taming of the Shrew". Aside from being an easy read, keep in mind the play is good to perform as it holds up well and doesn't suffer from being tinkered with. I've seen one production that was mostly straightforward but did a few weird things that worked like magic. They would've sunk almost any other Shakespeare comedy. I must also mention the last moment between the two clowns. It is as heart-warming and humane as it is funny. The master is already present AND growing. Do yourself a favor and pick up this play, you'll laugh your head off!

I recently re-read THE COMEDY OF ERRORS prior to attending The Colorado Shakespeare Festival's performance of this farce-like play under the summer stars here in Boulder. Based on Menaechmi by Plautus, William Shakespeare (1564-1616) produced this romantic comedy between the years 1592-93 and published it in the First Folio in 1623. While on its surface this early play may seem superficial and frivolous when measured against KING LEAR or HAMLET, it is not without its own unique depths. It also shows that the Bard had a sense of humor. It tells the hilarious story of two, identical twin brothers (Antipholus of Syracuse and Antipholus of Ephesus) and their identical twin servants (both named Dromio), all of whom were separated at sea during their infancy until redisdovering each other through a series of madcap mix-ups, mayhem, and mistaken identities in the apparently insane town of Epheseus. Meanwhile, Egeon (the father of the Antipholus twins), has been granted a day to raise local ransom for illegally entering Ephesus. In that day, the separated twins are reunited, Antipholus of Ephesus pays his father's ransom, and Egeon discovers his long-lost wife (Aemilia) living in the local priory. In the end, THE COMEDY OF ERRORS is as much about the power of family as the search for completing oneself. It is a play that reminds me that it is perhaps better to re-read and understand Shakespeare than to devour one bestseller after the next.

G. Merritt

One of the problems that great artists present to us is where to begin in getting to know their works. Their masterworks are often so full of what they have spent a lifetime developing that most of it is lost on those who have not yet put in a significant amount of effort becoming familiar with that artist's style and means of expression. Yet, if one begins with their apprentice works one may become discouraged because they lack the miracles of the masterworks. So, where does one begin?

Shakespeare offers the reader an additional challenge of an English that is removed in style and idiom from us by 400 years. It is not an insurmountable challenge. In fact, it is quite easy to overcome with a bit of time reading it and getting into the flow. It just seems strange in the beginning, but it really does become easy to read once you spend some time with it. However, getting over that small hill has kept many from enjoying the glories of Shakespeare.

This play, "The Comedy of Errors", is clearly an early work. It has many virtues, but despite them it does not offer much of what we really value in Shakespeare. It is a very fine play and is constructed very well. It is a wonderful first work to read of Shakespeare because it is short and has a very simple plot. The new reader does not have to spend much effort contemplating characters or the immense subtlety of language of the great works. Its charms are direct and what it has to offer is pretty much on the surface of the words.

The plot is, like all farces, ridiculous. It involves twin brothers who are served by twin slaves. They are separated early in life and when the play opens one set does not know the other exists. One set (the Antipholus and Dromio from Syracuse) visits Ephesus where the other set (the Antipholus and Dromio of Ephesus) lives. The play involves people confusing the two sets to the bewilderment of those suffering from the confusion. It really is quite funny. Of course, eventually, all is resolved to everyone's delight.

This edition, like all of the individual editions Arden offers of these plays, has a wonderful opening essay that offers a great deal of background on the play including a discussion of its performance history, sources, and discussion of the play itself. The appendices in the back offer excerpts from the sources and some brief information on the Gray's Inn performance of 1594.

If you desire to study Shakespeare and are willing to spend time reading many of his plays, "The Comedy of Errors" is a good work to start with just to ease into the language and get a feel for some of the conventions of Elizabethan theater. Just don't stop here. Shakespeare has so much more to offer that you owe it to yourself to continue your exploration of this supreme artist.

Although I'm not a fan of novels written by men from a woman's POV, ANNETTE VALLON disposed of this prejudice in a few pages. Born into a wealthy bourgeois family during the last days of the Ancient Regime, Annette is an avid reader of novels, particularly the "dangerous" ones by Rousseau and Laclos. She is also an idealist, a perilous mindset in any age. When she meets the poet Wordsworth, on a free-spirited tramp through Europe, she falls--finally, fatally--in love. She bears him a daughter, but France and England are soon at war and will remain so for a generation. The lovers can never marry. Tipton's writing is polished and evocative and his settings the most perfect form of time travel, but the novel is broken into two "movements." I enjoyed the second, which deals with Annette's lonely struggle to survive and raise her daughter, more than the first. During this time, France is undergoing successive spasms of revolutionary violence. Social reforms lead to The Terror, to which she loses her beloved father and brother. With the bloody logic of many later revolutions, the ever-increasing savagery of "purification" leads to Napoleon's dictatorship, and from there to his endless wars. I don't know how much of Annette's counter-revolutionary daring is imagined, but if you like brave, intelligent heroines who aren't afraid to use a pistol in the name of suffering humanity, here is one you won't forget.

I got this book as a Christmas present. I had just finished reading Pillars of the Earth and several Phillipa Gregory novels and my boyfriend thought I'd like this one too. I learned a great deal more about the French Revolution then I knew before and it was an enjoyable read. You really get a good sense of the society and culture of the time. As a Mother I also related to the pulls of motherhood and the balance of work through the story lines of rescue. There are many interesting plots and story lines to follow, it is an interesting read and very entertaining.

As a fan of all Austen novels and continuations, I'd recommend it to those who love these as well.
Nice job, and I look forward to your next novel.

Once I started reading Annette Vallon, I couldn't put it down. It was wonderfully written - romantic, adventurous, and heart wrenching. I would highly recommend it to anyone with a love for historical fiction such as The Lady and the Unicorn or The Birth of Venus: A Novel. A great read!

Ironically I picked up this book and scandal of the season at the same time, which are both about poets and european society during about the same time. Scandal of the Season was a fair enough story about balls, and public embarassment over (what we would consider today to be) silly matters. I did enjoy it, but the theme wasn't very fresh.

I started Annette Vallon half expecting the same sort of tale with a French spin -- I was so pleasantly surprised at this amazing story. Told through Annette Vallon, we see the insanity of the French Revolution, and we also see a story about courage and intrigue. I was very sad when the book ended. I would compare this to Cold Mountain, and Memoirs of a Geisha, as the story is a strong and compelling one that really stays with the reader. Loved it!! And loved that horse La Rouge too!

This book is, quite simply, everything a reading experience should be. James Tipton has created a gem of a novel and has left me anxious for another. Work of the caliber is hard to come by and is the sort of novel that lingers with the reader, long after its last page has been read.

Set against the backdrop of the Terror in France, Tipton has created a novel that is part romance, part adventure story, and always a reflective, beautiful tale of a fascinating woman. Annette Vallon is a truly extraordinary character, a woman who is fallible yet engaging. Though she does many courageous and selfless things throughout her life, she never comes across as sanctimonious. She is always humble and true to her heart and I only wish there was an abundance of such female characters in literature. Annette is vibrant, spirited, intelligent, and loving. She is everything a good female character ought to be and Tipton did a wonderful job of capturing the perspective of his obviously beloved heroine.

I initially thought this book would detail the romance of Annette and William Wordsworth. While that's certainly one of the books central and recurring themes, this book is also so much more. Tipton has made Annette a fascinating person in her own right; she's no simple mistress of Wordsworth. The love story between the two is tender, passionate, and romantic and Tipton writes eloquently about their love. The passages with Annette and William always rang true and are a textbook example of what romance writing should be. My only quibble was with William's ultimate decision but I lay that at Mr. Wordsworth's door and certainly not Mr. Tipton's. The author has done a fine job writing a melancholy tale of two lovers who had not only their families and society against them but also the very fabric of the world in which they lived.

And yet the love story is only part of the tale. Annette has a rich and amazing life of her own and Tipton has done a simply marvelous job of conveying the fear, the anger, and the horror of France during the Revolution. Annette's bravery is singular and is driven by personal motives that Tipton details exquisitely. Though Annette suffers many tragedies, the book is never maudlin and the reader is always struck by the force of Annette's will. The book has inspired me to try to get my hands on some historical works in order to try to learn more about Annette, the Revolution, and the brave Chouans.

What struck me most about this novel was the beauty of the prose. Tipton's writing is breath-taking and the book is filled with wonderful, thought-provoking quotes and passages of great beauty. Every character is fully realized, from the main characters to the large and varied cast of secondary and tertiary characters. Tipton has breathed life into each and every one of them and the humanity of the characters is one of many great strengths of the novel. Though he is writing about the Revolution, I found a number of parallels to current events that gave the novel a truly timeless and universal quality. As one of the characters states, "Just say the words 'patriot' or 'security' and everyone will follow you." Certainly these words should strike a chord not just with those reading about the French Revolution but also today's American.

I am always interested in reading poetry, I have loved it since childhood. However I do not find the wonder many attribute to Wordsworth and some of the other past poetic icons professors and/or instructors at many colleges and universities attempt to push down their students throats.

Yes, I grew up with English teachers rambling off a list of names they felt were the great poets of the past (lists I am sure they were given, fed, or forced to accept, by their professors and instructors who themselves were force to accept too. I have always wondered who it was that originally decided that these few poets and their poetry were any better than anyone elses. I find the common man or women in society can spill forth just as majestic and just as meaningful lines of poetry as any of these so called greats.

To date I still wonder who those mysterious deciders of what is or is not good poetry are, and why they missed the mark so badly.

Don't get me wrong I enjoy reading anyones poems and I try my best to find something in every poem that inspires my soul or makes me think. I have done so in the poems of this book as well. But I do not find the greatness that some seem to find or are told they should find, in all of these works. A few of them are just tedious nonthinness.

As a matter of fact I can pick up a copy of the American Poetry Anthology published by Robert Nelson every year or so, that has page after page, after page of average everyday citizen's poems in them and find works that far surpass the works (as far as touching my very soul with meaning and insight) found in this book of Wordsworth.

And I hardly think anyone trying to make the case that only a sophisticate (here place the word elitist if it suits you) can find the greatness of the works here presented. That is an valid argument and would be quite egotistical and condensending now wouldn't it?

I in fact liked this book, but it did not move me like Frost and many others have. I have found in my life hundreds of poems and dozens of poets who relay their artistic prowess far better than Wrodsworth ever did. now I know why the book is priced as it is. Interesting but not awe inspiring.

This is not an edition for scholars, nor for the reader who wishes to know the great body of Wordsworth's poetry. It contains most of the great poems so frequently anthologized, including the two longer Odes, the Intimations Ode, and Tintern Abbey. It also includes much of the most memorable shorter work.
Wordsworth is one of my favorite poets. His simple clear language, his quiet reflectiveness, his direct and arresting descriptions of nature, his deeply moral relation to life, his sublime metaphysical reflectiveness, his tranquility, his presentation of recollecting self at the heart of his work, his philosophical sublimity and clarity, his sympathetic relation to ' common people' his nobility of utterance, his capacity for creating great and memorable lines are all evidenced here.

Plenty of literary works to refer to. Great index. Great book for thrift shopping.

The remarkable English Romantic Poets - William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, and John Keats - remain among the favorite poets in the English language. This litte Dover edition, titled Favorite Poems, is a good introduction to much of Wordsworth's greatest poetry.

Wordworth's poetry is quite accessible to the modern reader. There is no need for extensive familiarity with Greek and Roman mythology, nor for knowledge of archaic poetic terms. Footnotes and a glossary are not required.

I have read these 39 poems comprising the Dover collection three or four times over the last few years. With each reading I find Wordsworth's questioning of man's relationship to nature and "what man has made of man" to be as relevant today as it was two centuries ago.

My favorites in this collection include:

Composed Upon Westminister Bridge Sept. 3, 1802 - Elegiac Stanzas - I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud - In London, September 1802 - Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey - Lines Written in Early Spring - London, 1802 - Mutability - My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold - Nuns Fret Not at Their Convent's Narrow Room - Nutting - Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood - On the Extinction of the Venetian Republic - Resolution and Independence - Scorn Not the Sonnet - She Dwelt Along the Untrodden Ways - The World is Too Much with Us, Late and Soon.

The other poems in this collection are:

The Affliction of Margaret - Anecdote for Fathers - Character of the Happy Warrior - Expostulation and Reply - Extempore Effusion upon the Death of James Hogg - I Traveled Among Unknown Men - The Idiot Boy - Inside of King's College Chapel, Cambridge - Lucy Gray - November 1806 - Ode to Duty - The Pet Lamb - She Was a Phantom of Delight - A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal - The Solitary Reaper - Strange Fits of Passion I Have Known - Thought of a Briton on the Subjugation of Switzerland - Three Years She Grew in Sun and Shower - To Sleep - To Toussaint L'Ouverture - We Are Seven.

For the reader looking for a more extensive collection of Wordsworth's poetry, explanatory notes, and some poetic criticism, I recommend the hardbound Everyman's Library "Selected Poems", edited by Damian Davies. ISBN 1-85715-245-X

I was never much of a reader of poetry, until I discovered poetry on audio cassette. Hearing it spoken gives life to the written word. It's like watching and listening to Shakespeare rather than reading it ... the rhythm of the words come alive! It's how great poetry is meant to be appreciated.

Great poems, the three star rating is for this edition.

Know the name of a Wordsworth poem, have his complete works, want to read the poem? Hah! Loser! Unless you know the first line, or feel like plowing through the index of subjects such as "Poems founded upon the affections" (oh, that narrows the field, thanks tons)(by the way, poems within these lists are not in alphabetical order, either) you are SOL.

There is no table of contents as we would use that term here in the world which speaks English. So, if you like the idea of owning Wordsworth's works, and being able to read things more or less at random, this is the volume for you. If you want to be able to, you know, find things in this 900 page book, good hunting.

We Are Seven is on page 83.

Wordsworth isn't my favourite poet. As one of the great romantic poets, I find his stuff, well, a bit fey. But hey. That's just my opinion. In reality there's more gems here than the crown jewels.

this edition.

The Wordsworth Poetry Library offers some decent printings of the works of any number of poets for fantastic prices. These editions may not be of the best quality, but that's okay for most of the books in the collection. However, when it comes to Wordsworth, quality is an issue because of the sheer volume of his poetical works. The WPL edition of the namesake's poetry will fall apart if one attempts to actually read it. There are simply too many pages in this edition for the paperback, perfect-bound book to stay together.

When it comes to Wordsworth, a little probably goes a long way for the casual reader; such may wish to consider the Penguin edition of Selected Poems of William Wordsworth. However, those who truly wish to read (or at least own) every accessible bit of verse by the venerable poet will do well to look around (use bookfinder dot com or eBay) for old hardcover editions under the title Complete Poetical Works of William Wordsworth.

It should be stressed that the casual reader will generally find the WPL editions adequate, especially for the price, and that this volume is only a poor choice because of the amount of pages.

William Wordsworth is my favorite poet. I wanted a collection of his poetry and I can't imagine a better one than this! It's so complete I don't think I'll ever need another one! I'm totally satisfied.

William Wordsworth is one of my favorite poets. This collection of his works is great. It put together really well and its easy to read and find your favorites in it. You will Love Wordsworth is much as I do!

It is interesting that Wordsworth should never have published his most impressive poem. Norton calls it the "most original long poem since Milton's Paradise Lost," and it certainly deserves to be ranked alongside the master of the English epic. This poem was not published until after Wordsworth's death in 1850, and there are several versions of it (which are included in this book). The 1798-1799 version is very short, but the 1805 is expanded and includes many epic devices which Wordsworth borrowed from Milton and others. The 1850 version is basically a revised 1805 edition. It is not necessary that you read all three versions of the poem to understand its power, but it is useful to have them all at hand like this.

The Prelude is an autobiography about Wordsworth's early life. It is full of sublime images of the world through the eyes of a Romantic, and includes some of the most beautiful imagery ever set to verse in English (I believe). Wordsworth's reflections about the evils of ambition and self-absortion, among other things, are also very powerful.

This poem has been widely quoted by such Christian authors as CS Lewis, and has been admired by many great English poets. It is truly a masterpiece, an epic poem done in the tradition of English Romanticism. You can get this poem in many compilations, but usually in abridged form. This edition features the poem in its entirety, and in three version. This poem is essential to any study of English Romanticism.

I entirely disagree with the prevailing reviews on The Prelude. We have no other secular poem about the futile search for meaning in a meaningless world so fine as the Prelude: it is the Paradise Lost of those who search or long for a fleeting significance. What is significant about the poem is not that we believe what Wordsworth claims about the power of nature and the mind, but that he tried so hard to search out some sense of meaning and order- Wordsworth is the first Modernist writer before there was a name for his anxiety. This edition is wonderful in the way that it presents the 1805 and 1850 versions on opposite pages- it also contains the 1799 version- a real tour de force. Read The Prelude, read it carefully and take it too heart- there is no Song of Myself without Wordsworth's humane yet Promethean quest for significance.

I used to like the Romantics - but this revealed to me the extent to which they were all immersed in their own selves so much they couldn't see beyond the individual. Wordsworth is long-winded and dull in linguistic terms, but admittedly some of the imagery (boat-stealing episode) is inspired. It is, fundamentally, all about himself though, and traces his own poetic growth which is interesting as a topic, but not the way Wordsworth does it. He throws in a few token pictures of the poor, who he was so concerned about, but these tend to be superficial compared to his own self. Dull, dull, dull, a complete waste of time. If you have to read it for a course, get the york notes or only read the 1799 version

This book articulates a vision of the world and of the emotions it inspires in a cerebral, yet densely imaged poem. Wordsworth did not want the poem published for fears that it was too self-absorbed; adressing earlier reviews that have made this complaint, it is true that the poem is self absorbed in that it presents the vision of the world from an individual perspective...as all poems do. I find Eliot's use of quotations and footnotes drawing on his banks of memory and reading to be far more self-absorbed than this: a poem intended to communicated clearly. It is true that it is personal in that it was written to a friend with devotion and love, but this does not detract from the power of the language, the power of the vision, and the impact of the poem upon the age(s). As for comparing Wordsworth to a modernist, that comparison is difficult to make as the modernists rejected the romantic's formal language and optimism (both present in the prelude, despite moments of recognition of a bleak 'wasted' world).

I am almost as much in awe of the erudition of the editors (James Engell and W Jackson Bates of the Bolingen edition) as that of Coleridge himself. I think it is often easier to parade one's own wide reading than to recognize someone elses's references. These editors track down the most obscure of Greek, German and Latin quotations and it's an education to read their notes.
There are really three themes in the book. One part is philosophy, one is literary criticism, and one is straight autobiography. These are dispersed throughout.
As regards the philosophy I am probably what he would have called "ignorant of his understanding." Coleridge shows a remarkable knowledge of German philosophy, read in the original language. As far as I know his philosophical ideas have not been highly regarded by pure philosophers.
The literary criticism is the most powerful and original part although the texts he uses will be unfamiliar and even anaccessible to most modern readers.
The fragments of autobiography such as chapter 10 and the first of the Satyrayane's Letters are the most readable.
While this is an unboubted work of genius I have denied it the fifth star because of a certain lack of redability. It is not, for the modern reader, a page-turning work of entertainment. It contains many gems, and much wit, but is one of those we take up today for instruction rather than diversion.

Anyone interested in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's work could not receive better advice than to buy the Princeton University Press paperback edition of Biographia Literaria (1817), the closest thing that this most brilliant but also most erratic of all the English romantic poets produced by way of a summa of his life and critical theories. If you've tried it in a cheap edition (e.g., the Modern Library) and set it aside scratching your head over the constant flow of obscure allusions, untranslated quotations in Latin, Greek, and, especially, German, and hundreds of references to other writers, now is the time to give it another shot. The editors, James Engell and Walter Jackson Bate, have meticulously glossed every one of these obscurities in footnotes (not endnotes)that are a model of clarity and concision. The volume has everything you need to appreciate this great work: a thorough and highly readable editors' introduction, a chronology of Coleridge's life, appendices on related correspondence and on passages Coleridge appropriated from the German philosophers, and a complete index. This edition is not, by ordinary standards, new: as volume 7 of Princeton's Collected Works of STC, it's been around as a two-volume hardcover since 1983 and a single volume paperback since 1984. But considering how long it took to produce a usable version for the ordinary reader, it might as well have come out yesterday.

Bede Griffiths, in his book The Golden String, referred to STC as "one of the most universal minds in English literature."

I don't know of anything comparable to Biographia Literaria. At times it's the narrative of a great poet's life. He may veer off into literary criticism or even parody (see the, to me, hilarious section in which he gives "The House that Jack Built" in the rhetorical manner of a recent poet). He powerfully attacks the positivism of his age (and ours). He evokes the wonder of being human.

This scholarly edition is the one to get, if you're going to put in the time to read this rich classic at all.