Shakespeare S Verbal Art

Shakespeare’s Verbal Art is a profoundly important study of the newly rediscovered anagrams that lie hidden below the surface of all Shakespearean texts. It explains the essential role played by these concealed figures in Classical and Renaissance poetry, demonstrating the revelatory function of anagram by reference to the close analysis of a wide range of examples. Special attention is given to Shakespeare’s use of these sub-textual devices to clarify meaning and intention. The focus is first on Shake-speares Sonnets of 1609, and secondly on Hamlet, Othello and Twelfth Night, all of which are found to be composed around the concealed anagrams that render these works self-interpreting. A new kind of language use is revealed, in terms of which pre-Enlightenment text is envisaged as existing in two distinct dimensions – the overt and the covert – both of which must be read if any particular poem or play is to be fully understood. In effect, a wholly new set of Shakespearean texts is made available to the reader, who will find Shakespeare’s Verbal Art an essential guide to the new discoveries. The book will also be indispensable in the fields of Classical and Renaissance literature, linguistics, poetics, rhetoric, and literary history, and in relation to the pre-Enlightenment text in general, and will interest both the specialist and the general reader.

Do you long to be seductive? Have a desire to be seduced? Then “let lips do what hands do” and put into practice the most enticing baubles of seduction ever written. Shakespeare and the Art of Verbal Seduction contains the Bard’s best seducing lines to cajole, charm, and even proposition the object of your desire. Shakespeare is the master of persuasion. He induces the hardest of hearts to give up mind, body, and soul with a brilliant flash of words. Here they’re collected for you, his little miracles of language, arranged in ten strategies for every stage of a love affair, from first encounter to the full throes of passion. Never again let your desire flounder in bad come-ons. Learn the art of seduction from the greatest seducer of all time, and get what you want.

First published in 1972. Studying Shakespeare's 'art of preparation', this book illustrates the relationship between the techniques of preparation and the structure and theme of the plays. Other essays cover Shakespeare's use of the messenger's report, his handling of the theme of appearance and reality and the basic characteristics of Shakespearian drama.

'Russ McDonald... offers an initiation into Shakespeares English.... Like a good musician leading us beyond merely humming the tunes, he helps us hear Shakespearean unclarity, revealing just how expression in late Shakespeare sometimes transcends ordinary verbal meaning.... particularly recommendable.' -Ruth Morse, Times Literary Supplement 'Oxford University Press offer a mix of engagingly written introductions to a variety of Topics intended largely for undergraduates. Each author has clearly been reading and listening to the most recent scholarship, but they wear their learning lightly.' -Ruth Morse, Times Literary SupplementOxford Shakespeare Topics (General Editors Peter Holland and Stanley Wells) provide students and teachers with short books on important aspects of Shakespeare criticism and scholarship. Each book is written by an authority in its field, and combines accessible style with original discussion of its subject. Notes and a critical guide to further reading equip the interested reader with the means to broaden research. For the modern reader or playgoer, English as Shakespeare used it - especially in verse drama - can seem alien. Shakespeare and the Arts of Language offers practical help with linguistic and poetic obstacles. Written in a lucid, nontechnical style, the book defines Shakespeare's artistic tools, including imagery, rhetoric, and wordplay, and illustrates their effects. Throughout, the reader is encouraged to find delight in the physical properties of the words: their colour, weight, and texture, the appeal of verbal patterns, and the irresistible affective power of intensified language.

First published in 1972. Studying Shakespeare's 'art of preparation', this book illustrates the relationship between the techniques of preparation and the structure and theme of the plays. Other essays cover Shakespeare's use of the messenger's report, his handling of the theme of appearance and reality and the basic characteristics of Shakespearian drama.

This Perceptive Study Of Shakespeare By Dowden Remains Unsurpassed. It Is Not An Isolated Work But An Important Landmark In Scholarly Criticism On Shakespeare. Dowden Makes A Judicious Use Of Shakespeare S Intellectual Biography And Connects The Study Of Shakespeare S Works With An Inquiry About The Personality Of The Writer And Growth Of His Mind And Character. The Critic Is Careful In Keeping The Identities Of Shakespeare And His Characters Distinct Though He Skillfully Traces The Proclivities Of Shakespeare S Characters In The Spiritual Tendencies Or Rabits Of Their Creator. In View Of The Range Of Shakespeare S Characters, From John Falstaff To Hamlet, From Lady Macbeth To Cordelia, It Is An Achievement Far Beyond The Scope Of An Extraordinary Intellectual Exercise.By And Large, Dowden Adheres To The Chronological Method Of Studying Shakespeare S Writings. This Makes The Task Of The Student And Reader Easier. References Can Be Made To The Individual Plays And To Their Group Affiliations As Tragedies, Comedies And Historics Readily.Dowden Is Free From Modern Day Tendency To Overuse Academic Jargon. There Is No Rigid Theoretical Framework To Which Shakespeare Has Been Made To Bend And Bow. On The Other Hand, We Notice An Interesting Pattern Of What The Author Himself Describes As The Struggle Between Blood And Judgement Through His Study Of Shakespeare S Plays Which Was Also A Great Affair Of Shakespeare S Life. Dowden Shows Us Decisively That Shakespeare S Creative Response To Life Rested Upon A Purely Human Basis And He Refused To Render Into Art The Dogmas Of Either Catholicism Or Protestantism Even Though He Lived In An Age Marked With Religious Controversies And His Personal Sympathies Were With Protestantism.The Chapter Growth Of Shakespeare S Mind And Art Is An Unmatched Contribution To The Critical Understanding Of Shakespeare S Personality As The Greatest Dramatist And Playwright Of The World.Dowden S Critical Commentary On Shakespeare Is Comprehensive And Wide-Ranging And Full Of Insights. No Important Aspect Of His Dramatic Art Has Remained Untouched As Is Evident From His Treatment Of Shakespeare S Humour. He Insightfully Observes That The Character And Spiritual History Of A Man Who Is Endowed With A Capacity For Humorous Appreciation Of The World Must Differ Throughout And In Every Particular From That Of The Man Whose Moral Nature Has Never Rippled Over With Gerid Laughter. And In This Distinctive Endowment Dowden Seeks The Source Of Shakespeare S Unique Genius.Abandoning Metaphysics And Abstractions, Dowden Turns To Actual Life Of The World As Viewed And Depicted By Shakespeare, To The Real Men And Women Of His Plays And Explores The Sources Of Their Emotion, Thought And Action.Shakespeare-His Mind And Art Has Carved For Itself A Permanent Niche In The Shakespearean Critical Canon.