The worlds most trusted reference books.From sharply witty to the downright hilarious, this sparkling collection of humorous quotstions will appeal to all senses of humour. Writer, author, and broadcaster Ned Sherrin has selected 5 000 quotations - both classics and personal favourites - from Shakespeare to Monty python, Jane Austin to Roseanne.
Shakespeare is usually set apart from his contemporaries, in kind no less than quality. This book, the long-awaited final volume in the Oxford History of English Literature, sees Elizabethan drama as drawn together by a shared need to deal with contradictory pressures from heterogeneous audiences, censorious authorities, profit driven managers, and authors looking for classic status and social esteem. Hunter follows the compromises and contradictions of the Elizabethan repertory, examining how Shakespeare and his fellow dramatists were able to move easily from vulgar realism to poetic transcendence.
Caroline Spurgeon's pioneer study of the imagery of Shakespeare's plays shows how much light can be thrown on Shakespeare's own mind and thought and on the themes and characters of the plays by a detailed examination of his imagery. At the same time she contrasts Shakespeare with other dramatists of his time, including Marlowe, Bacon, Ben Jonson and Dekker.
The author addresses the problem of time, treating it in a bi-plane way: as an existential problem (evoking dilemmas presented in the layer of the world presented) and technical (facilitating the playwright to obtain dramatic tension). His analysis allows for deep penetration into the structure and content of a play. The book summarizes the two approaches to the issue of the time: textual-philosophical and technical-dramatic. The author refers to the achievements of literary criticism in both English and German speaking countries. In particular, he analyzes links between the timeline presented in the drama and its function organizing events of the drama.
