The compositional pattern documented in this book consists of two elements. The first is taken from Romeo and Juliet and is relatively simple. It consists of a situation in which both Romeo and Juliet find themselves: each survives the death of the other. The protagonists of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies are put into this same situation: each survives the death of the woman he loves most. The second element is taken from Richard III and is more complex: it involves the motives of the pr...

Hamlet first appears on stage in the second scene; he does not learn of his father’s murder until the fifth. That he is presented to us before learning of that murder is a most important element in the play’s structure, for Shakespeare employs that second scene to bring out that Hamlet, even before learning of his father’s murder and of the need to avenge it, already has another purpose to which he is passionately dedicated. This other purpose remains of primary importance to him throughou...

Two essays on Shakespeare's Othello. The first argues that Cassio’s and Othello’s losses of reputation and honor form a tripartite climactic progression: a loss of reputation through little fault of one’s own (Cassio’s), a loss of honor through no fault of one’s own (Othello’s through another’s infidelity), and a loss of honor through one’s own fault (Othello’s through his murder of Desdemona). The play’s grand irony is that Othello’s mistaken belief that he has lost his honor through anot...

Poiesis Review #1-5 is a collected archive of poems that comprises the first five issues of the print journal from 2008-2012, with poems dating as far back as 1991. The journal contains 119 poems in 164 pages of writing by 73 of the best poets in the independent press, including those at the turn of the new millennium.Poiesis Review is one of the only literary journals in existence that features a blend of today’s up-and-coming promising rookies alongside the stap...

This essay forms Chapters 3 and 4 of my ebook: A Christian Pattern In Shakespeare’s Tragedies: Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, and Othello, available at Lulu. Lastly and most importantly, the action of both plays is structured around a pair of love tests: one at or near the beginning of each play, and the other at or near its end. In both plays the first love test illuminates the personality of the female deuteragonist and the quality of her love for the male protagonist; in both the second lo...

This essay forms Chapter 5 of my ebook: A Christian Pattern In Shakespeare’s Tragedies: Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, and Othello, available at Lulu. It argues that Macbeth and Richard III are less similar than many think. An ambitious person is someone for whom the possession of the ancillary ends of prestige, authority, power and/or fame leads directly to the obtainment of the final end, happiness; for him the possession of these ancillary ends therefore is a means to the final end, happin...

The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare's Poetry contains thirty-eight original essays written by leading Shakespeareans around the world. Collectively, these essays seek to return readers to a revivified understanding of Shakespeare's verbal artistry in both the poems and the drama. The volume understands poetry to be not just a formal category designating a particular literary genre but to be inclusive of the dramatic verse as well, and of Shakespeare's influence as a poet on later g...

Hamlet's "To be or not to be" soliloquy is quoted more often than any other passage in Shakespeare. It is arguably the most famous speech in the Western world - though few of us can remember much about it. This book carefully unpacks the individual words, phrases and sentences of Hamlet's soliloquy in order to reveal how and why it has achieved its remarkable hold on our culture. Hamlet's speech asks us to ask some of the most serious questions there are regarding knowledge and existence. ...

Shakespeare's poems, aside from the enduring appeal of the Sonnets, are much less familiar today than his plays, despite being enormously popular in his lifetime. This Introduction celebrates the achievement of Shakespeare as a poet, providing students with ways of understanding and enjoying his remarkable poems. It honours the aesthetic and intellectual complexity of the poems without making them seem unapproachably complicated, outlining their exquisite pleasures and absorbing enigmas. S...

The works of William Shakespeare vividly represent for our admiration and study a pageant of souls with longing in whose wake we ceaselessly follow. Through some of his most memorable characters, Shakespeare illuminates the nature and character—as well as consequences—of our distinctively human passions and ambition, in particular our desire for and pursuit of both honor and love. The contributors to this collaborative volume (scholars in English Literature, Political Philosophy, and the H...

First published in 1951. The edition reprints the second, updated, edition, of 1977. When first published this book quickly established itself as the standard survey of Shakespeare's imagery considered as an integral part of the development of Shakespeare's dramatic art. By illustrating, through the use of examples the progressive stages of Shakespeare's use of imagery, and in relating it to the structure, style and subject matter of the plays, the book throws new light on the dramatist's ...

A collection that includes a lengthy introduction describing historical trends in critical interpretations and theatrical performances of Shakespeare's play; 20 essays on the play, including two written especially for this volume (by Maurice Hunt and David Bergeron).