Lectures on Shakespeare

Description

From one of the great modern writers, the acclaimed lectures in which he draws on a lifetime of experience to take the measure of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets "W. H. Auden, poet and critic, will conduct a course on Shakespeare at the New School for Social Research beginning Wednesday. Mr. Auden . . . proposes to read all Shakespeare's plays in chronological order." So the New York Times reported on September 27, 1946, giving notice of a rare opportunity to hear one of the century's great poets discuss at length one of the greatest writers of all time. Reconstructed by Arthur Kirsch, these lectures offer remarkable insights into Shakespeare's plays and sonnets while also adding immeasurably to our understanding of Auden. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii INTRODUCTION ix LECTURES Henry VI, Parts One, Two, and Three 3 Richard III 13 The Comedy of Errors and The Two Gentlemen of Verona 23 Love's Labour's Lost 33 Romeo and Juliet 44 A Midsummer Night's Dream 53 The Taming of the Shrew, King John, and Richard II 63 The Merchant of Venice 75 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 All's Well That Ends Well 181 Measure for Measure 185 Othello 195 Macbeth 208 King Lear 219 Antony and Cleopatra 231 Coriolanus 243 Tiynon of Athens 255 Pericles and Cymbeline 270 The Winter's Tale 284 The Tempest 296 Concluding Lecture 308 APPENDIX I: Auden's Saturday Discussion Classes 321 APPENDIX II: Fall Term Final Examination 341 APPENDIX III: Auden's Markings in Kittredge 347 TEXTUAL NOTES 363 INDEX 391