Lectures on Shakespeare

Εξώφυλλο
Princeton University Press, 29 Σεπ 2002 - 398 σελίδες

"W. H. Auden, poet and critic, will conduct a course on Shakespeare at the New School for Social Research beginning Wednesday. Mr. Auden has announced that in his course . . . he proposes to read all Shakespeare's plays in chronological order." The New York Times reported this item on September 27, 1946, giving notice of a rare opportunity to hear one of the century's great poets comment on one of the greatest poets of all time. Published here for the first time, these lectures now make Auden's thoughts on Shakespeare available widely.


Painstakingly reconstructed by Arthur Kirsch from the notes of students who attended, primarily Alan Ansen, who became Auden's secretary and friend, the lectures afford remarkable insights into Shakespeare's plays as well as the sonnets.


A remarkable lecturer, Auden could inspire his listeners to great feats of recall and dictation. Consequently, the poet's unique voice, often down to the precise details of his phrasing, speaks clearly and eloquently throughout this volume. In these lectures, we hear Auden alluding to authors from Homer, Dante, and St. Augustine to Kierkegaard, Ibsen, and T. S. Eliot, drawing upon the full range of European literature and opera, and referring to the day's newspapers and magazines, movies and cartoons. The result is an extended instance of the "live conversation" that Auden believed criticism to be. Notably a conversation between Auden's capacious thought and the work of Shakespeare, these lectures are also a prelude to many ideas developed in Auden's later prose--a prose in which, one critic has remarked, "all the artists of the past are alive and talking among themselves."


Reflecting the twentieth-century poet's lifelong engagement with the crowning masterpieces of English literature, these lectures add immeasurably to both our understanding of Auden and our appreciation of Shakespeare.

 

Επιλεγμένες σελίδες

Περιεχόμενα

Henry VI Parts One Two and Three
3
Richard III
13
The Comedy of Errors and The Two Gentlemen of Verona
23
Loves Labours Lost
33
Romeo and Juliet
44
A Midsummer Nights Dream
53
The Taming of the Shrew King John and Richard II
63
The Merchant of Venice
75
Measure for Measure
185
Othello
195
Macbeth
208
King Lear
219
Antony and Cleopatra
231
Coriolanus
243
Timon of Athens
255
Pericles and Cymbeline
270

Sonnets
86
Henry IV Parts One and Two and Henry V
101
Much Ado About Nothing
113
The Merry Wives of Windsor
124
Julius Caesar
125
As You Like It
138
Twelfth Night
152
Hamlet
159
Troilus and Cressida
166
Alls Well That Ends Well
181
The Winters Tale
284
The Tempest
296
Concluding Lecture
308
Audens Saturday Discussion Classes
321
Fall Term Final Examination
341
Audens Markings in Kittredge
347
Textual Notes
363
Index
391
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W. H. Auden, who was born in York, England, on February 21, 1907, is one of the most successful and well-known poets of the 20th century. Educated at Oxford, Auden served in the Spanish Civil War, which greatly influenced his work. He also taught in public schools in Scotland and England during the 1930s. It was during this time that he rose to public fame with such works as "Paid on Both Sides" and "The Orators." Auden eventually immigrated to the United States, becoming a citizen in 1946. It was in the U.S. that he met his longtime partner Chester Kallman. Stylistically, Auden was known for his incomparable technique and his linguistic innovations. The term Audenesque became an adjective to describe the contemporary sounding speech reflected in his poems. Auden's numerous awards included a Bollingen Prize in Poetry, A National Book Award for "The Shield of Achilles," a National Medal for Literature from the National Book Committee, and a Gold Medal from the National Institute of Arts and Letters. Numerous volumes of his poetry remain available today, including "About the House" and "City Without Walls." W.H. Auden died on September 28, 1973 in Vienna.

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