Although it is well known that the Romantics were obsessed with Shakespeare, little attention has been paid to the ways in which he influenced their creative practices and their theories of the imagination. This new work finally presents the fascinating picture of how the Romantics read Shakespeare and responded to the implications of his work for their own poetry. The book provides the first full critical discussion of Shakespeare and Wordsworth, explores the influence of the plays on the poetry of Blake and Coleridge, and offers a fresh account of Shakespeare's powerful presence in the letters and poems of Keats and Byron, and in Shelley's dramas. Taking issue with prevalent deconstructionist theories and Harold Bloom's ideas on "the anxiety of influence," Bate instead carefully illustrates the ways in which initial attempts at blind imitation were transformed into graceful poetic echo and allusion.

Essays discuss the holidays, witches, vacations, whist, religion, relatives, children, poetry, art, death, weddings, and marriage

Product Description: In the decade 1808-1818, Schlegel, Coleridge and Hazlitt produced some of the finest criticism on Shakespeare. This anthology brings together substantial selections from their work, together with contributions from other writers, including Goethe, Stendhal, Hugo and Keats...read more

Product Description: After centuries of vilification and neglect by both scholars and actors, Titus Andronicus has at last come to be recognized as one of ShakespeareÂ's early masterpieces. In this powerful and ground-breaking edition, Bate offers a complete and radical reappraisal of ShakespeareÂ's bloodiest tragedy, seeing it as one of the dramatistÂ's most inventive plays, a complex and self-conscious improvisation upon classical sources...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Scholars, directors, and actors describe the rise of Shakespeare from one of many Elizabethian playwrights to preeminence in the theatrical canon

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The first literary biography of the 'poets' poet' chornicles his birth into poverty, his work as an agricultural laborer, his relationship with John Keats, and his career as a writer. 10,000 first printing.

Collects Andrew Marvell's poems and includes a chronology, appendices, notes, and suggestions for further reading.

An authoritative, modernized edition of the complete works of the great Elizabethan dramatist offers the complete texts of every comedy, tragedy, and history play, along with key facts about each work, a plot summary, major roles, sources, textual history, glossaries, and other helpful textual notes. 100,000 first printing.

This fascinating book by one of Britain's most acclaimed young Shakespeare scholars explores the extraordinary staying-power of Shakespeare's work. Bate opens by taking up questions of authorship, asking, for example, Who was Shakespeare, based on the little documentary evidence we have? Which works really are attributable to him? And how extensive was the influence of Christopher Marlowe? Bate goes on to trace Shakespeare's canonization and near- deification, examining not only the uniqueness of his status among English-speaking readers but also his effect on literate cultures across the globe. Ambitious, wide-ranging, and historically rich, this book shapes a provocative inquiry into the nature of genius as it ponders the legacy of a talent unequalled in English letters. A bold and meticulous work of scholarship, The Genius of Shakespeare is also lively and accessibly written and will appeal to any reader who has marveled at the Bard and the enduring power of his work.

The story of a recently discovered portrait of a young William Shakespeare traces its origins and history to discuss how it came into being, its possession by the same family for more than four hundred years, the painstaking forensic study that confirmed its age, and the plausibility of its authenticity. 20,000 first printing.

Product Description: A fascinating portrait of a typical English parish church also famous as the baptism site and burial place of the world's most celebrated dramatist.