Shakespeares English

In its long history, the English language has had many lawmakers - those who have tried to regulate or otherwise organize the way we speak. The Lexicographer's Dilemma poses a pair of questions: What does proper English mean? And who gets to say what's right? Our ideas of correct or proper English have a history, and today's debates over the state of the language - whether about Ebonics in schools, the unique use of language in a South Park episode, or split infinitives in the Times - make sense only in historical context.

Originally published in 1634 and believed to be Shakespeare's final play, Two Noble Kinsmen is a tragedy with romantic themes. The play is based on a story from Chaucer (The Knight's Tale). Themes include war, love, banishment, obsession and madness. This adaptation by playwright Hazel Jeffs converts Shakespeare's work into more accessible plain English.

Innumerable stories, from the Homeric epics to the New Testament, and from Oedipus Rex to Hamlet, explore the realization or failure of second chances—outcomes that depend on accident, acts of will, or fate. Such stories let us repeatedly rehearse the experience of loss and recovery: to know the joy that comes with a renewal of love and pleasure and to face the pain that comes with realizing that some damage can never be undone. Through a series of illuminating readings, the authors show how Shakespeare was the supreme virtuoso of the second chance and Freud was its supreme interpreter.

The Bard was so incredibly prolific that even most Shakespeare scholars would welcome the occasional refresher course, and most of the rest of us haven't even got a clue as to what a petard actually is. Fear not, the best-selling authors of Homework for Grown-Ups are here to help.

"The Shakespeare Authorship Question: A Crackpot's View" is a quick, fun read that will leave you wondering why schools and colleges aren't teaching both sides of the Shakespeare story. Author and performer Keir Cutler is a "crackpot." More accurately, he has a "psychological aberration." He is also "ignorant," "a snob" and "a publicity hound." He has "a poor sense of logic," "refuses to accept evidence," and is possibly, "certifiably mad." Who calls him (and people like him) by those terms? The Shakespeare Birth Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. Why? Because he questions whether the ...

A lively and engaging guide to vital habits of mind that can help you think more deeply, write more effectively, and learn more joyfully.

Graeme Malcolm, Eric Stoltz, and other accomplished actors bring life to the words of the world's favorite poets, including William Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Also available: The Best Poems of All Time, Volume 2.

Unless one knows the value of loyalty, he cannot appreciate the cost of betrayal. What if Darcy and Elizabeth met weeks before the Meryton assembly? What if there is no barely “tolerable” remark to have Elizabeth rejecting Mr. Darcy’s affections, but rather a dip in a cold creek that sets her against him? What if Mr. Bennet is a renown Shakespearean scholar who encourages Darcy to act the role of Petruchio from Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew” to bring Elizabeth’s Katherina persona to the line? ELIZABETH BENNET’s pride has her learning a difficult lesson: Loyalty is ...

Leaving behind a wife and three young children in Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare moved to London for its thrilling theater scene, where everyone mixed freely across ages, classes, and ranks. It was through their mutual passion for the theater that the handsome twenty-seven-year-old playwright first met and fell deeply in love with the effeminate seventeen-year-old earl who beguiled men and women alike and avowed that 'desire and pleasure [should] sometimes triumph over reason.'

Dame Harriet Walter, renowned for her wonderful portrayals in Succession and Killing Eve, among others, is one of Britain's most esteemed Shakespearean actors. Now, having played most of Shakespeare's female characters, audaciously, she lets them speak their minds. With new parts for thirty Shakespearean women, written in 'Shakespearean' verse and prose, Harriet Walter goes between the lines of the plays to let us hear what she imagines - sometimes playfully and sometimes searchingly - these women were really thinking.

Pericles, Prince of Tyre is a Shakespearean play, although some question if Shakespeare did indeed write it. It is now generally believed that Shakespeare wrote approximately half the play. This plain English version of the play converts Shakespeare's language into more accessible wording. The play is a tale of lost relations and adventure. Additional context on Shakespeare and his works are included.

Forbidden Love in a Slayer Academy Violetta has to save her brother by taking Sebastian's place. His biggest bully, Orion is determined to save her. In Calder, Boy's Academy for Slayers, Violetta's brother is the runt of the pack. When she takes his place, she has to deal with bullies and enemies who are unbelievably hot. Orion's brother, Armand is the pack leader. They'll fight for pieces of the fresh Baker and the right to protect her from the monsters. All After a freak accident with escaped tigers, newly orphaned Violetta Tancetta is left in a city which teems with werewolves, vampires,...

Simon Russell Beale is one of Britain's most recognisable and well-loved actors. He has played many roles on stage, film, television and radio - ranging from Winston Churchill to Stalin, George Smiley to King Arthur. But ever since his appearance at school as a glamorous Desdemona, complete with false eyelashes that rendered him half-blind, he has been captivated by Shakespeare.

Everyone knows something of Shakespeare's sonnets, even if only in memorable fragments like "the darling buds of May", or "remembrance of things past", or "the marriage of true minds". For centuries these wonderfully crafted, intense lyrics have stood for something valued about youth, love, and the emotional complexities belonging to that time of life. This new recording presents all 154 of Shakespeare's sonnets, using the New Cambridge Shakespeare texts.

This innovative, new critical guide follows the same format as our Art of Poetry series. High quality, fine-grained analysis of key aspects of the play, including essays on key characters and exploration of key scenes, is supported with contextual information, teaching ideas and much more. Designed specifically for teachers and high-achieving GCSE pupils, The Art of Drama is a springboard to better teaching, greater literary appreciation and to the highest grades.

This plain-English version of King Lear clocks in at just under 20 minutes, ensuring the subject matter is appropriate for a younger audience. King Lear is one of Shakespeare's best-known tragedies from the 1600s and tells the story of a king's relationships with his three daughters. It is widely regarded as one of Shakespeare's most accomplished plays.

Henry Dunbar, the once all-powerful head of a global media corporation, is not having a good day. In his dotage, he hands over care of the corporation to his two eldest daughters, Abby and Megan, but, as relations sour, he starts to doubt the wisdom of past decisions. Now, imprisoned in Meadowmeade, an upscale sanatorium in rural England, with only a demented alcoholic comedian as company, Dunbar starts planning his escape. As he flees into the hills, his family is hot on his heels.

William Shakespeare found dozens of different ways to kill off his characters, and audiences today still enjoy the same reactions - shock, sadness, fear - that they did more than 400 years ago when these plays were first performed. But how realistic are these deaths, and did Shakespeare have the knowledge to back them up? Kathryn Harkup turns her discerning scientific eye to the Bard and the varied and creative ways his characters die.

Peter Ackroyd's insightful new biography positions Shakespeare in the close context of his world. In this way, Ackroyd not only richly conjures up the texture of Shakespeare's life, but also imparts an amazing amount of vivid, interesting material about place, period and background. Walk with Ackroyd through sixteenth century London and Stratford as he uncovers the intimate circumstances of Shakespeare's life.

A master class of 27 lessons, drawn from 27 diverse narratives, for novelists, storytellers, filmmakers, graphic designers, and more. Author Daniel Joshua Rubin unlocks the secrets of what makes a story work, and then shows how to understand and use these principles in your own writing. The result is “an invaluable resource” (Publishers Weekly, starred review), offering priceless advice like escalate risk, with an example from Pulp Fiction.