Along with writing comedic and dramatic plays, William Shakespeare was also a master poet. Using the sonnet structure (three quatrains and a final couplet composed in iambic pentameter), he composed 154 poems covering timeless themes of love, beauty, and mortality. The poems' subjects-the Fair Youth, the Dark Lady, and the Rival Poet-have become nearly as famous as the sonnets themselves. While not the first to write poems in sonnet form, Shakespeare's...

Presents William Shakespeare's comedy "The Two Gentlemen of Verona," along with explanatory and textual notes, an introduction on Shakespeare, and critical commentaries.

A study guide to Henry V, including the text of the play, plot summaries, character notes, activity and discussion ideas, and background information on Shakespeare's life and times.

A guide to reading and understanding William Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" which includes the complete unabridged text, detailed explanations of difficult words and passages, a synopsis of the plot, summaries of individual scenes, and notes on the main characters.

Presents the text of Shakespeare's comedy of love and redemption in exile, and includes a biographical sketch of the author, a selection of critical commentaries, and other reference materials.

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, suggested by "The Knight's Tale" from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, written around 1594 to 1596. It portrays the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of amateur actors, their interactions with the Duke and Duchess of Athens, Theseus and Hippolyta, and with the fairies who inhabit a moonlit forest. The play is one of Shakespeare's most popular works for...

Contains the unabridged text of the tragicomedy about a king whose unfounded jealousy has lifelong consequences for his family and friends; includes explanations of words and passages, a plot synopsis, scene summaries, and notes on the main characters; and features questions, activities, and biographical information about Shakespeare.

During the 1967 school year, on Wednesday afternoons when all his classmates go to either Catechism or Hebrew school, seventh-grader Holling Hoodhood stays in Mrs. Baker's classroom where they read the plays of William Shakespeare and Holling learns much of value about the world he lives in.