San Antonio College Library

This book explores the expressions of Shakespeare's poetic will - his sexual desire, conscious and unconscious volition, and posthumous legacy - within the linguistic matrix that enfolds his characters and readers. Using a combination of psychoanalytic approaches, Willbern rescues Shakespeare from the limitations and distortions of dramatic performance by showing that his language, scenes, and characters are propelled by the genius of this will and...

James Biester sees the shift in late Elizabethan England toward a witty, rough, and obscure lyric style - metaphysical wit and strong lines - as a response to the heightened cultural prestige of wonder. That same prestige was demonstrated in the search for strange artifacts and animals to display in the wondercabinets of the period. By embracing the genres of satire and epigram, poets of the Elizabethan court risked their chances for political advancement,...

"Voices and accents are increasingly perceived as central markers of identity in Shakespearean performance. This book presents a history of the reception of Shakespeare on the English stage with a focus on the vocal dimensions of theatrical performance. The chapters identify key moments when English accents have caused controversy, if not public outrage. Sonia Massai examines the cultural connotations associated with different accents and how accents...

This classroom and theater-tested program teaches amateur and professional actors alike how to understand and effectively communicate the poetry of Shakespeare. Organized around passages from Romeo and Juliet, a simple, three-step process is presented. In the first step, Test Your Understanding, readers learn the value of looking up words in the Oxford English Dictionary and paraphrase passages to ensure that they truly understand the words they are...