This new edition focuses on the Sonnets as poetry - sometimes strikingly individual poems, but often subtly interlinked in thematic, imagistic and other groupings. Gwynne Evans and Anthony Hecht also address the many questions that cast a veil of mystery over the genesis of the Sonnets: to what extent are they autobiographical? What is the nature of the 'love', strongly expressed, between the 'poet', the 'youth' and the 'Dark Lady'? Can they, apart...

Baz Luhrmann's dazzling and unconventional adaptation of William Shakespeare's classic love story is spellbinding. The setting has been moved from its Elizabethan origins to the futuristic backdrop of Verona Beach with these star-crossed lovers.

During her prolific career, popular English children's writer Edith Nesbit wrote or collaborated on over sixty books of fiction for children in her illustrious literary career. In "Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare" first published as "The Children's Shakespeare" in 1897, she turns her attention to a series of interpretations of several of William Shakespeare's best-known comedies and dramas. These retellings of many of Shakespeare's plays are written...

Adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth, set in feudal Japan. Tells the story of a Samurai lord who kills his master and usurps his power in fulfillment of a witch's prophecy.

From the perspective of the townspeople and the queen, Clytemnestra, Agamemnon follows the emotional journey of grief, rage, and revenge. Agamemnon had dedicated much of his life to a war that his brother started. He vowed to do whatever it takes to win-committing war crimes and killing innocents. But, even in victory, Agamemnon feels unsatisfied and plagued by the bloodshed he caused. Because of this, he decides to perform a ritual to clear his conscience...

The Metamorphoses, or The Golden Ass, is the only Ancient Roman novel to survive in its entirety. The protagonist of the novel is called Lucius. At the end of the novel, he is revealed to be from Madaurus, in ancient Algeria, the hometown of Apuleius himself. The plot revolves around the protagonist's curiosity and insatiable desire to see and practice magic. While trying to perform a spell to transform into a bird, he is accidentally transformed...

Twelve-year-old Cooper Vega and his military family has moved so often that he is used to new schoolmates not knowing his name, but at the moment he has a bigger problem--his new phone is haunted by the ghost of Roderick Northrop, a boy from the sixteenth-century, who needs his help to finish a quest, which is somehow tied up in the Stratford Middle School production of Romeo and Juliet.

The story of a medieval monarch, his troublesome heir, and his constant struggle against plotters, schemers, and rebels. Set during the reign of Henry IV of England, this play portrays the rebellions faced by the medieval king, as well as his relationship with his son, heir to the throne. The young man indulges in a fun-loving, reckless lifestyle that he must find the strength to cast aside if he is to live up to his royal destiny. Featuring one of...

Though it tells the stories of the defeated, Prometheus Bound and Other Plays features four tragedies that depict both unfortunate demises and the essence of the fighting human spirit. The Suppliants, the first play of the collection, follows the daughters of Danaus as they flee from the loveless marriages that had been forced upon them. The Persians, perhaps the oldest surviving play in existence, portrays the defeat of the Persian King Xeroxes....

The Oresteia, a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus. The name derives from the character Orestes, who sets out to avenge his father's murder. The only extant example of an ancient Greek theater trilogy, the Oresteia won first prize at the Dionysia festival in 458 BC. Principal themes of the trilogy include the contrast between revenge and justice, as well as the transition from personal vendetta to organized litigation.