Love's Labours Lost

William Shakespeare

CUP Archive, 1962 - Literary Criticism - 213 pages

John Dover Wilson's New Shakespeare, published between 1921 and 1966, became the classic Cambridge edition of Shakespeare's plays and poems until the 1980s. The series, long since out-of-print, is now reissued. Each work is available both individually and as a set, and each contains a lengthy and lively introduction, main text, and substantial notes and glossary printed at the back. The edition, which began with The Tempest and ended with The Sonnets, put into practice the techniques and theories that had evolved under the 'New Bibliography'. Remarkably by today's standards, although it took the best part of half a century to produce, the New Shakespeare involved only a small band of editors besides Dover Wilson himself. As the volumes took shape, many of Dover Wilson's textual methods acquired general acceptance and became an established part of later editorial practice, for example in the Arden and New Cambridge Shakespeares.

What people are saying

Review: Love's Labour's Lost

User Review  - Helen Mears - Goodreads

This has always been my favourite Shakespeare comedy but, until now, I have seen it performed (several times) rather than read it. This time I read it alongside watching a DVD of the recent Globe ...

Review: Loves Labors Lost

User Review  - Mary - Goodreads

All the single ladies. Romantic comedy interrupted by sudden death. Education must be painful to be valuable. What am I to do with this unsettled romance? And the witty games (cf: Beatrice and ...

Contents

• PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION page: vii
• INTRODUCTION: xxiv
• THE STAGEHISTORY: lix
• LOVES LABOURS LOST: 13
• THE COPY FOR LOVES LABOURS LOST 1598: 98
• NOTES: 136
• GLOSSARY: 190

About the author

William Shakespeare, 1564 - 1616 Although there are many myths and mysteries surrounding William Shakespeare, a great deal is actually known about his life. He was born in Stratford-Upon-Avon, son of John Shakespeare, a prosperous merchant and local politician and Mary Arden, who had the wealth to send their oldest son to Stratford Grammar School. At 18, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, the 27-year-old daughter of a local farmer, and they had their first daughter six months later. He probably developed an interest in theatre by watching plays performed by traveling players in Stratford while still in his youth. Some time before 1592, he left his family to take up residence in London, where he began acting and writing plays and poetry. By 1594 Shakespeare had become a member and part owner of an acting company called The Lord Chamberlain's Men, where he soon became the company's principal playwright. His plays enjoyed great popularity and high critical acclaim in the newly built Globe Theatre. It was through his popularity that the troupe gained the attention of the new king, James I, who appointed them the King's Players in 1603. Before retiring to Stratford in 1613, after the Globe burned down, he wrote more than three dozen plays (that we are sure of) and more than 150 sonnets. He was celebrated by Ben Jonson, one of the leading playwrights of the day, as a writer who would be "not for an age, but for all time," a prediction that has proved to be true. Today, Shakespeare towers over all other English writers and has few rivals in any language. His genius and creativity continue to astound scholars, and his plays continue to delight audiences. Many have served as the basis for operas, ballets, musical compositions, and films. While Jonson and other writers labored over their plays, Shakespeare seems to have had the ability to turn out work of exceptionally high caliber at an amazing speed. At the height of his career, he wrote an average of two plays a year as well as dozens of poems, songs, and possibly even verses for tombstones and heraldic shields, all while he continued to act in the plays performed by the Lord Chamberlain's Men. This staggering output is even more impressive when one considers its variety. Except for the English history plays, he never wrote the same kind of play twice. He seems to have had a good deal of fun in trying his hand at every kind of play. Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets, all published on 1609, most of which were dedicated to his patron Henry Wriothsley, The Earl of Southhampton. He also wrote 13 comedies, 13 histories, 6 tragedies, and 4 tragecomedies. He died at Stratford-upon-Avon April 23, 1616, and was buried two days later on the grounds of Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. His cause of death was unknown, but it is surmised that he knew he was dying.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Love's Labours Lost; New Shakespeare, standard edition; The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare Series; The New Shakespeare; The Works of Shakespeare edited for the syndics of the Cambridge University Press; Works of Shakesprare / edited for the syndics of the Cambridge University Press by John Dover Wilson; Works, William Shakespeare
• Author: William Shakespeare
• Editor: John Dover Wilson
• Edition: 2, illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: CUP Archive, 1962
• ISBN: 0521075424, 9780521075428
• Length: 213 pages
• Subjects: Literary Criticism / General