Bevington, David M. Shakespeare and Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. ISBN 9780199586486, $45.00.
This resource is not a biography, but rather a study of what biographers have said about Shakespeare, from his first biography in the early 18th century to current biographical accounts. It aims to address what biographers focused on and how the views of Shakespeare might have changed. When reading Shakespeare plays it is important for students to know who Shakespeare was as a person. It will also be valuable for the discussion of what has been said of Shakespeare's life and how it has changed throughout the years.
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Findlay, Alison. Women in Shakespeare: A Dictionary. London: Continuum, 2010. 9780826458896, $275.00.
Findlay looks into the women in Shakespeare's life and works, while also portraying women's social and cultural positions in the Elizabethan eras. Each entry has three sections: a definition, its occurrence in Shakespeare's works, and a brief bibliography for additional information. The resource looks into the way in which Shakespeare uses language to represent women in his poetry and plays. This resource will be useful for the Women in Shakespeare class, but it is also needed to fully understand Shakespeare's plays since the character's, including women, play such a crucial role.
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Shakespeare, William, and Jane Armstrong. The Arden Dictionary of Shakespeare Quotations. Walton-on-Thames: Thomas Nelson, 1999. $17.00
This compact collections houses more than 3,000 quotations from Shakespeare's plays and poems. It is indexed by keyword, topic, and play title. It kinds a glossary and a brief biography. The act, scene, line, and speaker are indicated for each quotation. Students will find this source helpful for brushing up on their Shakespeare lines as well as beneficial when writing papers.
This compact collections houses more than 3,000 quotations from Shakespeare's plays and poems. It is indexed by keyword, topic, and play title. It kinds a glossary and a brief biography. The act, scene, line, and speaker are indicated for each quotation. Students will find this source helpful for brushing up on their Shakespeare lines as well as beneficial when writing papers.
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Burt, Richard. Shakespeares After Shakespeare: An Encyclopedia of the Bard in Mass Media and Popular Culture. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 2007. $299.95
This two volume set chronicles every appearance Shakespeare has made in pop culture from cartoons and comic books, to television and film, pop music, radio, and theater. There are 3,800 annotated entries and includes some black and white illustrations. This resource can be used for students in the Shakespeare on film class and Shakespeare in pop culture. It provides great examples of ways that Shakespeare has influenced so much in the world.
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Garber, Marjorie B. Shakespeare After All. New York: Pantheon Books, 2004. $40.00.
Burt, Richard. Shakespeares After Shakespeare: An Encyclopedia of the Bard in Mass Media and Popular Culture. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 2007. $299.95
This two volume set chronicles every appearance Shakespeare has made in pop culture from cartoons and comic books, to television and film, pop music, radio, and theater. There are 3,800 annotated entries and includes some black and white illustrations. This resource can be used for students in the Shakespeare on film class and Shakespeare in pop culture. It provides great examples of ways that Shakespeare has influenced so much in the world.
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Garber, Marjorie B. Shakespeare After All. New York: Pantheon Books, 2004. $40.00.
This work contains literary criticism and analyzation of 38 of Shakespeare's plays. It covers plot, characters, imagery, adaptation of sources, historical context, and performance. She discusses the timeliness of his works because they can all be discussed in relation to current political, social, and personal issues. This resource is recommended for low-undergraduates and up and will accommodate all of the student's studying Shakespeare. It serves as a means to understanding his purpose for writing and the themes behind his plays.
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Dutton, Richard, and Jean E. Howard. A Companion to Shakespeare's Works. Malden (Mass.: Blackwell, 2003. $124.95.
This set contains 4 volumes: volume 1: The tragedies; volume 2: The histories; volume 3: The comedies; volume 4: The poems, problem comedies, late plays. The first section of the tragedies discusses his works as a whole, while the section section looks at each of them separately. The comedies volume is divide the same, the first 12 essays deal with his comedies as a while, while the remaining 10 deal with the plays individually. The essays are highly readable and serve as a road map through Shakespeare's works. Students will find this resource highly accessible and highly valuable as they make their way through the minor.
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Boyce, Charles, and Charles Boyce. Critical Companion to William Shakespeare: A Literary Reference to His Life and Works. New York: Facts On File, 2005. $104.50.
This resource contains over 3,000 entries on Shakespeare's life and works. The first section contains information about his plays such as scene by scene synopsis, commentary, character analysis, source information and performance history. It also contains a chronology and list of selected quotations. Students will find this resource to contain a very helpful analysis of Shakespeare's work and can use it for aid in class and with papers.
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Shewmaker, Eugene F. Shakespeare's Language: A Glossary of Unfamiliar Words in Shakespeare's Plays and Poems. New York: Facts On File, 1996. $75.00
This resource contains more than 17,000 definitions of words in Shakespeare's language. It includes quotations from his plays and poems, placing words or phrases being defined into context. It also addresses historical and mythological figures as well as geographic places. This will be a handy dictionary to have will reading Shakespeare's works and also when writing papers on his writing style or different interpretations of the text depending on the definition of a word.
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