Shakespeare Well-Versed: A Rhyming Guide to All His Plays (Paperback)

~ James Muirden (Author), David Eccles (Illustrator)
Key Phrases: King Henry, King Richard, King John (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Muirden's Rhyming History of Britain [BKL S 1 03] made brushing up on all those monarchs and PMs a romp, and now he makes absorbing the corpus of England's great dramatist more pleasant than Cliffs Notes ever did. History stuck to rhymed iambic tetrameter couplets to keep things comical throughout. For Shakespeare, however, Muirden uses several metrical forms to be differently witty about plays that vary from frothy (The Comedy of Errors, recounted in, essentially, A-B-A-B-rhyming iamb-tet quatrains) to prickly (Troilus and Cressida, the astringency of which is conjured by uneven stanzas of uneven lines that rhyme only in their final couplets). The six central Wars of the Roses plays are limned in Shakespeare's usual line, iambic pentameter, with plenty of feminine endings (and rhymes), while the plays that frame them are in jolly old iamb tets (Richard II) and even jollier iambic and dactylic trimeters (Richard III). Best, verse-wise, comes last: The Winter's Tale is abstracted in limericks. More fun than seeing many a Shakespearean production, and good prep for seeing any. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"A perfect little gift for any fan of Shakespeare with a sense of humor." --Nancy Pearl, author of Book Lust

�A perfect little gift for any fan of Shakespeare with a sense of humor.� (Nancy Pearl, author of Book Lust )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Walker & Company (September 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802777333
• ISBN-13: 978-0802777331
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #717,682 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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