An Oxford Anthology of Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

Clarendon Press, 1987 - Drama - 396 pages

In this elegantly-crafted anthology, readers have at their fingertips over two hundred of the finest examples of Shakespeare's work, ranging from two-line aphorisms, to sonnets, to complete scenes. Ideal for browsing, it allows readers to revisit favorite passages--Hamlet's soliloquy, the
balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet--or to discover unfamiliar gems. Above all, it permits readers to savor Shakespeare's unequalled capacity to portray the peaks and valleys of human experience.
Here readers will rediscover Shakespeare's extraordinary ability to capture in words the hearts, minds, and imaginations of kings and peasants, wise men and fools, warriors and page-boys, statesmen and common thieves. And hear quintessential expressions of admiration and vituperation, villainy and
virtue, grief, joy, and despair. It is unlikely that a selection from the work of any other writer could represent so wide a range of human experience.
In creating this anthology, Stanley Wells--the General Editor of the Oxford Shakespeare--has tried to select those passages that are most attractive in their own right and that suffer least from being read out of context. For the reader's convenience, he has arranged the excerpts according to
subject matter, under headings such as Friendship, Love, Hatred, Responsibility and Government, Time, Wisdom and Folly, and Death. For readers looking for a particular quotation, there is also a play-by-play index.
Highlighted by some of the most memorable and moving moments in world literature, this anthology is also a masterpiece of craftsmenship, with exquisite endpapers, excellent typography, and high quality paper. It is a perfect gift for the aficionado of Shakespeare or for anyone who loves fine
writing.

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An Oxford anthology of Shakespeare

User Review  - Not Available - Book Verdict

Shakespearean scholar Wells has gleaned from Shakespeare's 43 plays and 14 of his sonnets a collection of poems and passages whose strengths lie in their artistic, rhetorical, and literary value ...

Contents

• A Villains CreedDesire for RevengeA Merry BondA: 172
• The Playwrights Plea 1The Playwrights Plea 2Seem: 201
• Playing the FoolA Fools WisdomA Fool in the ForestA: 212

About the author

About the Editor:
Stanley Wells, Head of the Shakespeare Department at Oxford University Press, is General Editor of William Shakespeare: The Complete Works and co-author of William Shakespeare: A Textual Companion. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at Balliol College, Oxford.

Bibliographic information

• Title: An Oxford Anthology of Shakespeare
• Author: William Shakespeare
• Editor: Stanley Wells
• Compiled by: Stanley Wells
• Contributor: Stanley Wells
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Clarendon Press, 1987
• Original from: the University of Michigan
• Digitized: Mar 4, 2008
• ISBN: 0198129351, 9780198129356
• Length: 396 pages
• Subjects: Drama / Shakespeare