William Shakespeare Books

Hello, my name is Shannon, and I have a Shakespeare comprehension problem. I cannot elicit any meaning out of "thither he in and me within," or "wherefore art thou," so when my AP lit class delved into MacBeth, I was already waving the white flag.
Then my mom pulls out this book we picked up at Folger Shakespeare Library in D.C. She tells me a teacher wrote a poem about MacBeth for 2nd graders to understand--she had her 2nd grade class draw the pictures in them. Okay, I need all the help I can get, so I acquiesce.
And this book is incredible. The poem is fiercely creative and original, the drawings are such a hoot, and I am understanding the entire play to the point that I am acing quizzes and writing high reviews on Amazon for MacBeth (as I'm doing now). Some people may be recommending this for tiny tots getting into Big Will. I'm calling out to all HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS WHO WANT A LITTLE HELP!!! Get this book. Trust me.

I have 2 sons, ages 9 and 11, and they both love Lois Burdett's Shakespeare books! These books make the story lines accessible while providing the flavor of Shakespeare through the wonderful rhyming couplets. I first used one of these books to "preview" the story of MacBeth to my younger son, who was going to be in a children's musical production of the story. He loved the book and often asks me to reread it to him, and we have since acquired several other of the Burdett titles. My sons also enjoy the whimsical illustrations and sidebars done by the children.

I am a third grade teacher on Long Island. Last year I introduced three of Willaim Shakespeare's plays into our classroom. My children loved Macbeth. We studied Macbeth, The Tempest and Hamlet. The way Mrs. Burdett wrote in rhyming couplets really made the reading enjoyable! I plan on using her books throughout my teaching career. Thank you Lois Burdett! Shakespeare can be fun thanks to you.

-Michael Hynes

What a wonderful way to introduce Shakespeare to children! I used this book as a third grade teacher to teach inner city kids about Macbeth. It was amazing to hear the students discussing all of the characters and their actions. They were proud of themselves for learning about Shakespeare "like high school kids." If you make it fun, they will have fun!

I bought this poster a few years ago during a visit to Stratford while living in London and now it hangs in my bedroom, and I can't help reading bits of it each time I pass by it. It is a very unique bit of wall art, with a very enchanting image of Puck in the center.

This poster hangs in my classroom, and my students never believed that the entire play really could be printed on that one page. After we performed the play, we took down the poster, just to be absolutely sure -- and lo and behold, every word of the play is there! The illustration makes it a work of art in TWO ways -- since really, who would want to hang an entire play on their wall otherwise? As is, the poster is a constant source of entertainment and conversation for visitors to our class. I wish he'd have done a poster of "Taming of the Shrew"!

This is one of the best layouts for unabridged books imaginable! I would highly recommend!

This has to be the perfect gift, to give or receive. It's timeless. A complete Shakepeare play on one, elegant page.

I've had mine framed; it hangs in the hallway, and draws people like a magnet. Needless to say, I shall buy further editions for friends and family. Great idea!

I recently re-read A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM prior to attending The Colorado Shakespeare Festival's performance of this play under the summer stars here in Boulder. Shakespeare (1564-1616) produced this romantic comedy between 1595 or 1596 and published it in the First Folio in 1623. It follows the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of amateur actors under the influence of fairies who inhabit a moonlit forest. The play is Shakespeare's most popular and is widely performed across the world.

It play tells three stories connected by the wedding celebration of Duke Theseus of Athens and the Amazonian queen Hippolyta. In the opening scene, Hermia rejects her father Egeus's request that she marry Demetrius. Rather than facing death or lifelong chastity as a nun, Hermia and her lover Lysander decide to elope. Hermia tells her best friend Helena of her plan. Helena, who has been recently rejected by Demetrius, tells him of Hermia's plan to elope. Hermia, Lysander, Helena, and Demetrius all escape into the forest where they become romantically entangled under the influence of fairies.

Oberon (King of the Fairies), and his queen, Titania, arrive in the same forest. Oberon enlists the mischievous Puck (aka "Hobgoblin" and "Robin Goodfellow") to apply the magical juice from a flower to Titania's eyes while she is sleeping. The juice makes the victim fall in love with the first living thing he or she sees upon awakening. Oberon also instructs Puck to spread some juice on Demetrius's eyes. Instead, Puck puts the juice on Lysander's eyes, causing him to fall in love with Helena. To correct the error, Oberon then orders Puck to apply the juice to Demetrius's eyes, causing him to also fall in love with Helena, much to her confusion (now having two suitors).

Meanwhile, in a subplot, a band of "rude mechanicals" have been preparing a play in the forest about Pyramus and Thisbe for Theseus' wedding. Puck transforms the head of one actor, Nick Bottom, into that of an ass. When Titania is awakened by Bottom's singing, she immediately falls in love with him. Puck eventually restores Bottom's head, and lifts the spell from Lysander, but leaves Demetrius in love with Helena. The lovers conclude the night's events must have been a dream. Puck ends the play with a soliloquy.

G. Merritt

This play was one of Shakespeares best. It was beautiful,magical and it made me laugh.The fairies were the perfect piece of magic to make this play work. I loved how Shakespeare combined the real world and the spiratual world together. My favourite character of all of Shakespeares character was definately Helena. She reminded me of myself. Shakespeare was great at showing how the course of true love never does run smooth with the four characters. I recommend this play to everyone. It was simply beautiful.

I must say this book has really touched me, right down to my soul. I sure know that my husband loved it as well; Bill has officially become a true fan of Shakespeare's work! After reading this heartwarming comedy, my husband always manages to find a little time in his extremely busy day to settle in and take to a good book. And let me tell you, I will stand by my man!

Throughout the entire script, Shakespeare uses fine vocabulary, and incredible detail to craft a truly engaging story of love, loss, and ultimate triumph. A Midsummer Night's Dream has honestly changed me, in person and in soul; I think I'll become a Republican.

...On second thought, no.

Even though in most of his comedies the entertainments are punctured by sarcastic comments and comic relief, Shakespeare, who has demonstrated keen devices of opposites, from long dignified prose to comic verse, strives not to repeat himself. Shakespeare seems to have enjoyed playing variation on a theme, dwelling on an idea (further developing an idea) hinted at in other parts of a play or in another play. A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM embodies both. The play sets in Athens, in the midst of summer, which is associated traditionally (and surreptitiously) to magic. Immediately the opening act sets the romantic plot and whimsical air in motion by presenting the conflict between the young lovers and their elders.

The interesting thing is that it seems A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM could be a swinger: the situation as it stands could validly issue in either tragedy (similar circumstances in ROMEO AND JULIET, in which families thwarted what meant-to-be love) or comedy. Shakespeare quickly resolves the dilemma and provides light to the darkness of the situation. He nudges the story to a direction in which the style does not involve the audience too snuggly in the lovers' emotions. The love entanglement engenders enough body and reference to larger concepts to be viewed as image of some universal human experience: one so true-to-life that it inevitably and in no time provokes sympathy. The lovers' lines are not completely out of place in a romantic comedy because the lines are generalized: because soon after the crisis Lysander brings forward a plan by which he and Hermia may get out of their difficult situation. Hermia will neither be forced to marry Demetrius or perpetrate defiance of the pre-arranged marriage that surely promises prosecution. So the hints of pathos and possibility of tragedy echo ROMEO AND JULIET.

One of the recurring themes in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, as well as in TWELFTH NIGHT, and in LOVE LABOUR'S LOST, concerns the irrationality of love. In TWELFTH NIGHT, the gender disguise causes the confusion of love and identity of twins, and magic adopts the same course in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM as the King of Fairy decides to squeeze love juice onto Demetrius whom he has mistaken for Lysander. The idea of the tension between what people ought reasonably to feel and what in fact they do feel further gravitates to make a lasting impression. What is meant to make Demetrius requite the hapless Helena's passion takes an unexpectedly convoluted turn to anoint Lysander's eyes and he feels madly in love with Helena. Ironically he attributes this novel affection to his reason, which a mechanical later brings up in a sarcastic manner the antithesis between love and reason, whereas we know that the change has been effected by Puck's juice.

Variation of a theme that is hinted at in other parts of play is no more quintessential than the seemingly irrelevant speech that demonstrates poetic merit. The exquisite speech on irrational weather bears significance that is otherwise easily dismissed as mere decoration. So much Titania might have alluded to the inclement weather, the passionate tirade provides the ground for the idea that quarrel between the young lovers causes confusion in the seasons. For in the height of Helena's agony, she speaks about the danger of disaster and malevolent forces of nature and the caprice and irrationality of love. An atmosphere of a spell of illusion persists throughout the play, redolent of a recurrent notion of a dislocation between the senses, and between the senses and the brain. A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, shrouded by comic confusions, sheds light on lovers' failure to reason and to keep pace with their emotions.

This edition was very helpful to me because I didn't always understand what the original text meant, so reading the modern version right after the old version was very helpful. The book was one of my favorites - it's such a comedy! The characters are so unique and interesting. I definitely reccomend this book to everyone - it's short and doesn't take long to read, but so lasting and classic!

I am not a very big reader. I read this book and fell in love with it. It has a lot of everthing:romance, comedy,and pure poetry. After reading the story, my class and I put on a play of this book, everyone enjoyed it of all ages. So if you are not a big reader like me read this book you will change your mind.

It was a riveting and classical masterpiece with an enchanted twist of creative and whimsical imagination.A timeless tale!

This edition was very helpful to me because I didn't always understand what the original text meant, so reading the modern version right after the old version was very helpful. The book was one of my favorites - it's such a comedy! The characters are so unique and interesting. I definitely reccomend this book to everyone - it's short and doesn't take long to read, but so lasting and classic!

This book is excellent. Only two words are needed to explain its incredible value: "Green World"! Nothing more needs to be said.

This is the book that opened Shakespeare up to me. In a college Shakespeare class, which I came into with a strong anti-Shakespeare bias, I found myself confused with the language, bored and indifferent with the stories and frustrated. So, I went out and picked up this book (I had read Frye's the Archetypes of Literature) and it immediately changed my outlook on the old bard. I soon noticed that much of what my professor was lecturing in class was taken from Frye's work. I had discovered the secret. This is a very readable, interesting and witty look into many of the Shakespearean plays. Frye is quite unusual for a literary critic, he's fun to read.

Frye's essays on Shakespeare are distinguished by their accessibility. In "The Anatomy of Criticism" and "Fearful Symmetry" as well as other, more scholarly work, Frye demonstrates his profound insights into literature generally in the former and Blake's work in the latter. In both works, the reader is expected to have significant background in literary studies.
"Northrop Frye on Shakespeare" is targeted for the general reader. Frye's commentary helps any reader understand the Bard, but it does so in a more accessible style than any other work I have read by Frye. Ideally suited for the high school student or the college undergraduate, Frye's essays provide excellent entry points into many of Shakespeare's plays for the student who wishes to delve further into these essential works. Not exhaustive like Bloom's "Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human," or scholarly and advanced like Cavell's "Disowning Knowledge," Frye's work invites the reader to ponder some key points and formulate her own ideas.
This collection of essays complements the other works mentioned in this review. As an introductory set of essays on Shakespeare, it is without peer.

Frye expertly reviews and comments on over half-a-dozen of the Bard's best works. The only problem with the book is that he doesn't look at more of Shakespeare's works!

When the University of Alabama's Hudson Strode Program in Renaissance Studies, helmed by luminary Gary Taylor, chose hotshot University of California Professor Bryan Reynolds as one of the "the six most brilliant Renaissance scholars in the world under 40," I begrudgingly decided to read Performing Transversally. I had already heard too much buzz about his book on criminal society, and was confident that his kind of flashy scholarship -- a la his Harvard teacher-thaumaturgists Marjorie Garber and Stephen Greenblatt -- would be of little interest to an old-historicist like me. But now I must confess that I've read both books and found them to be more than impressive.

Reynolds is driven by a desire to mine the subterranean, which leads him to reveal such things as the bogus history of gypsies in Tudor-Stuart England, Shakespeare's anticipation of Stalinism, and the uncanny relationship between Shakespeare and American celebrity killer Charlie Manson. Along the way, Reynolds wrestles with almost every major critical tradition, and explains what he sees as their shortcomings and benefits for future research. His "transversal" approach is enhanced by his wit and chutzpah. In this, he reminds me of Leslie Fielder, or Susan Sontag (God bless them). Reading the work of Reynolds and his collaborators is like revisiting the 60s and 70s when literary theory aspired to ethical ideals and was fun to explore and do.

This book has not only emerged brilliantly out of the new historicism's wake, utilizing everything productive the new historicism had to offer, but it creates a wake in which new historicists -- especially the more myopic ones -- continue to flounder. Reynolds and his fellow transversal movers and shakers launch cogent critique after critique, both implicitly and explicitly, of new historicist criticism (while improving upon the Althusserian and Foucaultian theory behind it), supplanting its often fly-by-night and defeatist rhetoric with optimism, rigor, and relevance to concerns of today the likes of which most new historicists never imagined or cared to imagine possible. Reynolds' performance-oriented and expansive method enables analyses of Shakespeare's plays and adaptations of them -- of the "Shakespace" (one of his many playful coinages) through which they move -- that are far-reaching in value and application across history, cultures, and academic fields. I would even go so far as to say that Reynolds is a visionary with the scope of Raymond Williams, and, like Williams, Reynolds envisions and wants to inspire -- with his "transversal poetics" -- a better future. For Reynolds, although clearly a lover of Shakespeare, Shakespeare is just one of many points of departure for transversal adventures to elsewheres of learning, empowerment, agency, and evolution. There is no book on Shakespeare that I would want my students to read more than this one.

This is a great book. I bought it because everyone was talking about it at the Group for Early Modern Cultural Studies Conference last fall, and as I did it could not believe that I was spending $65 on a book, something I have never done before. But since I am a Shakespeare scholar -- I suppose I can call myself that now even though it is only my third year in grad school -- I figured that I need to have the new hot thing. What I did not know is that all the hipe was more than justified. Reynolds et al. are unrelentingly captivating in every respect: funny, smart, rigorous, engaging... Most important to me, however, is that this book is about change, responsibility, and empowerment. Shakespeare is just Reynolds' vehicle, that he uses to take his readers into "Shakespace," a conceptual and emotional space of expansion and learning, an other world where we can all move transversally. Thanks Reynolds et al. for getting my brain reeling, and getting me excited about my work!

Performing Transversally constitutes a major intervention in early modern studies that will no doubt be as important as Dollimore's Radical Tragedy but at the same time infinitely more useful to the future of critical inquiry across disciplines, ranging from theater studies to film studies. Reynolds' transversal poetics is the most exciting approach to lit-crit since deconstruction emerged on the scene in the 60s, and I am certain that the impact will be no less great. If it sounds like I love this book, it is because I do. It is rare in this profession to be truly inspired by scholarship, and Reynolds -- along with his many brilliant collaborators -- never ceases to inspire, with page after page of scintillating wit, groundbreaking ideas, and unwavering dedication to ethical and pedagogical concerns. This book has changed the way I think about authorship, performance, Shakespeare, and my selves, all the while reminding me of my responsibilities as a academic and even as a citizen. Buy it, read it, live it, you will be happy you did.

If you have seen William shakespeares Romeo and Julliet you will find that this book is the script from the movie. This book is very good and it has the VERY hot Leo's face on the cover!!

the book/movie was a lovely tale of ahate of 2 kings and alove between their children so strong no force could pull them apart, Not even death! The young lovers died side by side.

I think that this book was really good. That is why I rated it 5 stars. Any book that has Leo, the book rocks.

If you've seen the movie and want to do the exact Romeo & Juliet drama in a play, this book is truly written for you.

It's written in the exact same language spoken in the movie with the same scenes. While you read this book, it's like you imagining yourself into one of your favorite characters and experience this new version of William Shakespeare's violent, tragic play alongside the orignial written Elizabethan text...if you'd wish to exprience it in the old version like William Shakespeare wrote the drama, then just turn the page after the new version text. You'll be surprised!

Don't expect any stories in this one, but if you're looking for a drama script which is truly brilliant and has a fantastic way to explain things, get this book..

My sixth graders had a great time with the plays which carried them back to Shakespeare's time. The stories are presented clearly yet the condensations of the plays are true to Shakespeare's originals. The children had great fun thinking of the best ways to present the story and the characters using limited costuming and props. Their solutions were impressive. I liked the integrity Mr. Cullum showed toward the original story line and the Shakesperean English. My classes and I loved the time we spent with this book.

I used the Hamlet script out of this book to produce the play with my fourth graders and they ate it up. They couldn't put it down and understood what the play was about. I like how it still uses Shakespeares words and style but in a simplified way so that children will understand it. I enjoyed it a lot, and would recommend it to any who is daring enough to try Shakespeare with kids!

I have been in mourning since I loaned out this wonderful resource and it has gone missing. I managed, however to produce two plays with grade seven classes before the catastrophe. It is faithful to the Shakespearean style but has removed the longer, more complex word-plays ( generally lost on children). There remains enough of Shakespeare to create a whole new batch of fans.

Since first grade I have been a Shakespeare Fanatic, usally the only one in my class. When I was in third grade I checked this book out from the school library, what started as a book report became a full blown class play with me as the director of Romeo And Juliet. This book has a lot to offer, wonderful revisions of eight classic Shakespeare plays for elemenrery school kids, tips for costumes and stagings, advice and of course the plays themselves. I have now checked out this book for the second time for my fifth grade class to do A Midsummer Nights Dream. If you are trying to get kids involved with Shakespeare this is the way to go.

Shapiro's book is extremely well-documented and follows the recent trend of scholarship on nationalism and its effects on the "Other." It is a fascinating read that never gets weighed down by its own research. I suspect this may have something to do with Shapiro's buoyant narrative, which exudes a sense of wonder of what's being conveyed. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in English history, Jewish history, or simply history in general. It's truly a great study.

Professor Shapiro has since become known as a more popular Shakespearean critic. This book shows his depth as a historical scholar. The book's title understates the breadth of its scholarship. Its subject is important not only to the Shakespearean scholar but to anyone interested in religious history and the history of Jews in the Christian world up to the Renaissance.
Gregory T. Lombardo MD, PhD

The information in this book will astonish one regarding how deeply the English were obsessed with Jews. Because Jews were absent from England for three centuries the English had only the bible and their imagination to inform them about Jews. The Christian bible promoted negative attitudes and the belief that the messiah would come when all Jews became Christians brought up interesting complications that to this day disturb the Vatican! Christianity, the religion of love certainly produced plenty of hate. The analysis of Shylock is extremely interesting and contrary to what we learned in school. The author supplies verses from the original which are usually excluded from present day performances. I now have new insights into Shakespeare and English history.

I learned a great deal from this book. It is well written, serious cultural history. I would recommend it strongly to anyone interested in the period, the Merchant of Venice,and English attitudes toward Jews.

I have been very pleased with this purchase. I ordered it and received it within a week. The book itself is small and in hardcover. The jacket is quaint. I have very much enjoyed it's content. It is a collection of tidbits, trivia, and quotes about Shakespeare. This is a book you can dip into in any spot. Its a good one to peruse while waiting in the doctors office or wherever, because it is so easily put down and picked up again. It also has a ribbon marker, and it is indexed for quick referencing. I am one hundred percent pleased with it!

Everything you always wanted to know and then some about the greatest wordsmith of all time is found in this slim, trim volume by Shakespearean scholar David Crystal, and his son, Ben Crystal. Ever wonder just how many words Shakespeare invented? Well, in case you do there are "357 instances where Shakespeare is the only recorded user of a word in one or more of its senses."

Now, just in case listeners aren't properly impressed with the profundity and depth of your knowledge, you can always toss in the number of times the Bard was among several to use a word for the first time.

Jack Lemmon is quoted as saying that he was unconvinced that Shakespeare didn't make up words just to upset the actors. (Lemmon was rehearsing for his part in Kenneth Branagh's "Hamlet.")

How's that for cocktail party conversation?

David Crystal won a host of readers with his "The Stories of English." We quickly learned that he makes the most esoteric subjects fun, and he continues to do so with "The Shakespeare Miscellany."

This is one of those delightful books that you can pick up and enjoy for a minute or two and then return to as you wish. Lest you think Crystal is all fun and games - `tis not so. There are numerous insights into Shakespeare's poems and plays offering a greater understanding of this master's work, as well as interesting information about his life and the world in which he lived.

"The Shakespeare Miscellany" is pure pleasure.

By the way, do you have any idea who might have been "the dark lady" that Shakespeare addressed in many of his sonnets? Or, can you guess some of the folks who shared birth or death dates with the Bard? Alright - I'll tell you two: Shirley Temple shares his birth date, and Miguel de Cervantes shares his death date.

Did I mention that "The Shakespeare Miscellany" is addictive? - Gail Cooke

A gathering of useless facts, and trivia. A must have for a Shakespeare fan...

I cannot more enthusiastically recommend this delightful little encyclopedia of Bardolotrous arcania. I am especially impressed by the ample amunition provided for Stratfordians like myself in defense against the senseless conspiracy theorists who continue to contend that someone else authored Shakespeare's works. I wonder: has there been a single publication of Shakespeare scholarship contributed by an anti-Stratfordian, or is their only interest in Shakespeare in regard to the authorship? What a waste of intellect!