Shakespeare and Classical Antiquity

OXFORD SHAKESPEARE TOPICS General Editors: Peter Holland and Stanley Wells Oxford Shakespeare Topics provide students and teachers with short books on important aspects of Shakespeare criticism and scholarship. Each book is written by an authority in its field, and combines accessible style with original discussion of its subject. This book explains that Shakespeare did not have 'small Latin and less Greek' as Ben Jonson claimed. Shakespeare and Classical Antiquity shows the range, extent and variety of Shakespeare's responses to classical antiquity. Individual chapters on Virgil, Ovid, Classical Comedy, Seneca, and Plutarch show how Shakespeare's understanding of and use of classical authors, and of the classical past more generally, changed and developed in the course of his career. An opening chapter shows the kind of classical learning he acquired through his education, and subsequent chapters provide stimulating introductions to a range of classical authors as well as to Shakespeare's responses to them. Shakespeare and Classical Antiquity shows how Shakespeare's relationship to classical authors changed in response to contemporary events and to contemporary authors. Above all, it shows that Shakespeare's reading in classical literature informed more or less every aspect of his work. Burrow's book has much to offer. He offers an excellent account of Elizabethan schooling and especially the rationale of its classical training, geared to teaching the student to write Latin, not just to read it-and to transfer those skills to writing English ... there are dozens of illuminating details on various levels. The Times Literary Supplement Colin Burrow's study ... offers a brilliant reinterpretation of Shakespeare's response to classical literature. Jane Kingsley-Smith, Around The Globe There are striking perceptions and readings throughout, and the style is unfussy and often wittily engaging. In its reading of Shakespeare's relationship with Plutarch, it is unsurpassed. Dr Paul Hartle, St Catharine's College, Cambridge Shakespeare and Classical Antiquity is a model of clear exposition, conversational jargon-free prose and acute and imaginative close reading. The debate about Shakespeare and the classics will go on, but this is a major and unmissable contribution to the conversation. Geoffrey Miles, Review of English StudiesIntroduction ; 1. Learning from the Past ; 2. Virgil ; 3. Ovid ; 4. Roman Comedy ; 5. Seneca ; 6. Plutarch ; Conclusion ; Further Reading