William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night's Dream: Texts and Contexts William Shakespeare

Marc Notes: Also avail. in cloth at $39.95 Also avail. in cloth at $39.95. Table of Contents: About The Series About This Volume List of Illustrations Introduction PART I: WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, "A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM" (EDITED BY DAVID BEVINGTON) PART II. CONTEXTUAL READINGS 1. Popular Festivals and Court Celebrations The Rites of May "John Stow, From "A Survey of London"" "Henry Machyn, From "Diary of a Resident in London"" "Philip Stubbes, From "The Anatomy of Abuses"" The Ballad ""The Fetching Home of May"" Court Entertainments "Kenilworth and Coventry" "Robert Laneham, From "A Letter Descibing the Entertainment of the Queen at Kenilworth"" "Coventry Records of the Hock Tuesday Play" "The Fairy Queen" "From" Entertainment at Elvetham"" "Edmund Spencer, " From The Shepheardes Calendar"" 2. The Making of Men The Ranks of Men: William Harrison's "Of Degrees of People" "William Harrison, From "The Description of England"" The Formation of the Ruler: Plutarch's "Life of Theseus" "Plutarch, From "The Lives of Nobles Grecians and Romans"" The Formation of the Gentleman: Sir Thomas Elyot and Rodger Ascham "Sir Thomas Elyot, From" The Book Named the Governor"" "Rodger Ascham, From "The Schoolmaster"" Working Men "The Statute of Artificers" "From "The Statute of Artificers"" ""Royal Proclaimation Regulating Chester Wages"" The New Man: Simon Forman's Dreams "Simon Forman, From" The Autobiography of Simon Forman"" 3. Female Attachments and Family Ties Amazons "Christine de Pizan, From "The Book of the City of Ladies"" "Sir Walter Raleigh, From "The History of the World"" "John Knox, From "The First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiments of Women"" "Queen Elizabeth I, " Address to the Troops at Tilbury"" Gossips "Edward Gosynhyll, From" The Schoolhouse of Women "" Nuns "Richard Layton, " A Letter, Certifying the Incontinency of the Nuns of Syon"" "Desiderius Erasmus, From" A Maid Hating Marriage"" The Virgin Queen "Queen Elizabeth I, From" Speech to Parliment on Marriage and Succession"" "William Camden, From" The Annals of Queen Elizabeth"" A Poet and Her Patron "Amelia Lanyer, From "The Description of Cooke-ham"" Family Ties "Thomas Becon, From" A New Catechism"" "Henry Bullinger, From" The Christian Statue of Matrimony"" "William Gouge, From "Of Domestical Duties"" "Philip Stubbes, From" A Crystal Glass for Christian Women"" 4. Natural and Supernatural Bad Weather and Dearth "John Stow, From "The Annals of England"" Metamorphosis and Monstrosity "Ovid and Reginald Scot" "Ovid, From" Metamorphoses, Book 14"" Bestiality and Monstrosity "Prosecuting Buggery" "From" Calendar of Assize Records"" Monsters and Prodigies "Ambroise Pare, From "Of Monsters and Prodigies"" Fairy Belief "John Aubrey, Collecting Fairy Lore" "Richard Corbett, "The Fairies' Farewell"" ""The Mad Merry Pranks of Robin Good-fellow"" "ICorinthians 2:1--16" Bibliography Index ILLUSTRATIONS 1. Title Page of the Quarto "A Midsummer Night's Dream" 2. Woodcuts fo City and Woods from the Roxburghe Ballasd 3. Morris Dancers from the WIndow of a Gentleman'a House 4. Maypole DAnce from Michael Drayton;s "Poly-Olbion" 5. Woodcut Illustrating the Ballas "The Crost Couple" 6. Queen Elizabeth I on a Hunt 7. The Entertainment at Elvetham 8. The Queen and Her Court, from Edmund Spencer's "The Shepheaardes Calandar" 9. Page from Plutarch's "The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans" 10. Title Page from" A Catechism" 11. Title Page from George Tuberville's "The Noble Art of Venery" 12. Manuscript Page from "The Autobiography of SImon Forman" 13. Lascivious and Threatening Amazons from Sir Walter Raleigh's "The Discovery of Guiana" 14. Amazons, Each with a Breast Removed, from John Bulwer's "Anthropometamorphosis" 15. Queen Elizabeth I as an Amazon 16. Frontispiece from Samuel Rowland's "'Tis Merry When Gossip Meet" 17. Woodcut from Christine de Pizan's "The Book of the City of Ladies" 18. Circe Transforming Ulysses' Sailor into Animals 19. Monster, Half-Man, Half-Pig, from Ambroise Pare's "Of Monsters and Prodigies" 20. Title Page from "Robin Good-fellow, His Mad Pranks"" Contributor Bio:  Shakespeare, William Charles John Kean (18 January 1811 - 22 January 1868), was born at Waterford, Ireland, the son of the actor Edmund Kean. William Shakespeare was an English Poet, actor, playwright. He is the greatest writer in the English language in the World and the world's Greatest dramatist and Playwright. He was baptised the 26 April 1564 and died the 23 April 1616. He is often called England's National Poet and the Bard of Avon. William Shakespeare works consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two narrative poems, and a few other verses, the authorship of some of which is uncertain. His plays have been translated into every language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. William Shakespeare is the Father of modern Literature. Contributor Bio:  Paster, Gail Kern Gail Kern Paster is the former director of the Folger Shakespeare Library. She is the author of "The Idea of the City in the Age of Shakespeare "and "The Body Embarrassed: Drama and the Disciplines of Shame in Early Modern England".