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Shakespeare For All
Shakespeare For All November 20, 2023

Shakespeare's Sonnets Part 3

A Discussion with Michael Schoenfeldt

Michael Schoenfeldt

Hosted by Zachary Davis
Part 3 starts with a discussion of general reading strategies to help you discover the poetic techniques and insights of any individual sonnet. It concludes with a close-reading of three …

Shakespeare For All

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Shakespeare For All is an engaging, accessible introduction to the life and work of William Shakespeare, featuring world-class scholars and performers. You’ll learn who Shakespeare was and what historical events shaped his writing. You’ll be guided through his most popular poems and plays by leading scholars, actors, and interpreters of Shakespeare. And you’ll find the tools you need to become an interpreter of Shakespeare yourself and join in the ongoing global discussion his works have inspired. Except where otherwise noted, the texts used for this course are from Shakespeare’s Plays, Sonnets and Poems, from The Folger Shakespeare, ed. Barbara Mowat, Paul Werstine, Michael Poston, and Rebecca Niles. Folger Shakespeare Library.

Shakespeare For All November 13, 2023

Shakespeare's Sonnets Part 2

An interview with Michael Schoenfeldt

Michael Schoenfeldt

Hosted by Zachary Davis
Listen:
Part 2 focuses closely on the two major “characters” to whom the sonnets are addressed: a beautiful young man, and a woman described as black. You’ll learn how the speaker …
Shakespeare For All November 6, 2023

Shakespeare's Sonnets Part 1

A Discussion with Michael Schoenfeldt

Michael Schoenfeldt

Hosted by Zachary Davis
Listen:
The sonnet — a 14-line poem with a strict rhyme scheme, conventionally associated with love — was one of the most popular poetic forms in late Elizabethan England. In 1609 …
Shakespeare For All October 30, 2023

Shakespeare's "The Tempest" Part 3: The Language

A Discussion with Laurie Maguire

Laurie Maguire

Hosted by Zachary Davis
Listen:
Part 3 features close-readings from Professor Laurie Maguire of some of the play’s key speeches: Caliban’s extraordinarily lyrical description of the island; Prospero’s beautiful and disturbing evocation of theatre, and …
Shakespeare For All October 23, 2023

Shakespeare's "The Tempest" Part 2: Characters and Questions

A Discussion with Laurie Maguire

Laurie Maguire

Hosted by Zachary Davis
Listen:
With Professor Laurie Maguire, Part 2 explores the play’s many ambiguities — its uncertain geography, mental space, and genre — and how they reflect the play’s ethical ambiguities. Does Prospero …
Shakespeare For All October 16, 2023

Shakespeare's "The Tempest" Part 1: The Story

A Discussion with Laurie Maguire

Laurie Maguire

Hosted by Zachary Davis
Listen:
The Tempest, one of the last plays Shakespeare wrote, draws on themes and stories that fascinated him throughout his career while also taking his art form to unexpected new places …
Shakespeare For All October 9, 2023

Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" Part 3: The Language

A Discussion with Simon Palfrey

Simon Palfrey

Hosted by Zachary Davis
Listen:
In Part 3, Professor Simon Palfrey offers close-readings of some of the play’s most significant scenes. You’ll hear the play’s dark energies emerge through Mercutio’s speech about “Queen Mab”; see …
Shakespeare For All October 2, 2023

Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" Part 2: Characters and Questions

A Discussion with Simon Palfrey

Simon Palfrey

Hosted by Zachary Davis
Listen:
With Professor Simon Palfrey, Part 2 looks closely at the play’s characters, and especially at the intelligence and swiftness of Juliet. You’ll see how the lovers apprehend new possibilities of …
Shakespeare For All September 25, 2023

Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" Part 1: The Story

A Discussion with Simon Palfrey

Simon Palfrey

Hosted by Zachary Davis
Listen:
Children of families who are locked in a fatal feud, Romeo and Juliet risk community, identity, and life to pursue an all-consuming love. Today, Romeo and Juliet is one of …
Shakespeare For All September 18, 2023

Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" Part 3: The Language

A Discussion with Emma Smith

Emma Smith

Hosted by Zachary Davis
Listen:
In Part 3, Professor Emma Smith offers close-readings of some of the play’s most important scenes, which dramatize the wide range of relationships and types of love explored in the …
Shakespeare For All September 11, 2023

Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" Part 2: Characters and Questions

A Discussion with Emma Smith

Emma Smith

Hosted by Zachary Davis
Listen:
Part 2 looks at the many instances of inversion and transgression, looking at how characters cross boundaries of gender, status, and social role, and how they are punished or rewarded …
Shakespeare For All September 4, 2023

Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" Part 1: The Story

A Discussion with Emma Smith

Emma Smith

Hosted by Zachary Davis
Twelfth Night, named for the celebration that is both the culmination and the close of the Christmas festivities, is a bittersweet romantic comedy at once melancholy and merry. Through its …
Shakespeare For All August 28, 2023

Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" Part 3: The Language

A Discussion with Stephen Greenblatt

Stephen Greenblatt

Hosted by Zachary Davis
Listen:
In Part 3, Professor Stephen Greenblatt offers close-readings of some of the play’s most significant scenes. You’ll get an in-depth look at the powerful relationship between Antonio and Bassanio, the …
Shakespeare For All August 21, 2023

Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" Part 2: Characters and Questions

A Discussion with Stephen Greenblatt

Stephen Greenblatt

Hosted by Zachary Davis
Listen:
Part 2 discusses the play’s central characters, their profound bonds of intimacy and animosity, and the effect of money on those bonds. Professor Stephen Greenblatt explores the way that Shylock …
Shakespeare For All August 14, 2023

Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" Part 1: The Story

A Discussion with Stephen Greenblatt

Stephen Greenblatt

Hosted by Zachary Davis
Listen:
The Merchant of Venice is one of Shakespeare’s most gripping and challenging plays. Labeled as a comedy in Shakespeare’s First Folio, today it resonates as tragedy as well, thanks to …
Shakespeare For All August 7, 2023

Shakespeare's "King Lear" Part 3: The Language

A Discussion with Simon Palfrey

Simon Palfrey

Hosted by Zachary Davis
Listen:
In Part 3, Professor Palfrey offers close-readings of some of the play’s most significant scenes. You’ll witness the king and the beggar in the heart of a storm; the naked …
Shakespeare For All July 31, 2023

Shakespeare's "King Lear" Part 2: Characters and Questions

A Discussion with Simon Palfrey

Simon Palfrey

Hosted by Zachary Davis
Listen:
Part 2 explores the way that Shakespeare revised the original Lear story and the way he revised his own play to create a uniquely wrenching form of tragedy. Professor Simon …
Shakespeare For All July 24, 2023

Shakespeare's "King Lear" Part 1: The Story

A Discussion with Simon Palfrey

Simon Palfrey

Hosted by Zachary Davis
Listen:
King Lear has perhaps the most expansive cosmic scope of any of Shakespeare’s tragedies. In this play, Shakespeare retells the story of an aging king from Britain’s ancient past who …
Shakespeare For All July 17, 2023

Shakespeare's "Henry V" Part 3: The Language

A Discussion with Stephen Foley

Stephen Foley

Hosted by Zachary Davis
Listen:
Part 3 features close-readings of some of the play’s most significant speeches, with Professor Stephen Foley. Through Henry’s private soliloquy, we trace his moments of insight and blindness. In the …
Shakespeare For All July 10, 2023

Shakespeare's "Henry V" Part 2: Characters and Questions

A Discussion with Stephen Foley

Stephen Foley

Hosted by Zachary Davis
Listen:
Part 2 opens with a discussion of the history play genre and of how history shapes and constrains the plays’ protagonists. With Professor Stephen Foley, we then explore the complex …