William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, in 1564. This was the sixth year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. He was christened on April 26 of that year. The day of his birth is unknown. It has long been celebrated on April 23, the feast of St. George.

He was the third child and oldest son of John and Mary Arden Shakespeare. Two sisters, Joan and Margaret, died before he was born. The other children were Gilbert, a second Joan, Anne, Richard, and Edmund. Only the second Joan outlived William.

Shakespeare's father was a tanner and glove maker. He was an alderman of Stratford for years. He also served a term as high bailiff, or mayor. Toward the end of his life John Shakespeare lost most of his money. When he died in 1601, he left William only a little real estate. Not much is known about Mary Shakespeare, except that she came from a wealthier family than her husband.

Stratford-upon-Avon is in Warwickshire, called the heart of England. In Shakespeare's day it was well farmed and heavily wooded. The town itself was prosperous and progressive (see Stratford-upon-Avon).

The town was proud of its grammar school. Young Shakespeare went to it, although when or for how long is not known. He may have been a pupil there between his 7th and 13th years. His studies must have been mainly in Latin. The schooling was probably good. All four schoolmasters at the school during Shakespeare's boyhood were graduates of Oxford University.

Nothing definite is known about his boyhood. From the content of his plays, he must have learned early about the woods and fields, about birds, insects, and small animals, about trades and outdoor sports, and about the country people he later portrayed with such good humor. Then and later he must have picked up an amazing stock of facts about hunting, hawking, fishing, dances, music, and other arts and sports. Among other subjects, he also must have learned about alchemy, astrology, folklore, medicine, and law. As good writers do, he must have collected information both from books and from daily observation of the world around him.

In 1582, when he was 18, he married Anne Hathaway. She was from Tottery, a village a mile (1.6 kilometers) from Stratford. Anne was seven or eight years older than Shakespeare. From this difference in their ages, a story arose that they were unhappy together. Their first daughter, Susanna, was born in 1583. In 1585 a twin boy and girl, Hamlet and Judith, were born.

What Shakespeare did between 1583 and 1592 is not known. Various stories are told. He may have taught school, worked in a lawyer's office, served on a rich man's estate, or traveled with a company of actors. One famous story says that about 1584 he and some friends were caught poaching on the estate of Sir Thomas Lucy of Calcite, near Warwick, and were forced to leave town. A less likely story is that he was in London in 1588. There he was supposed to have held horses for theater patrons and later to have worked in the theaters as a page.

By 1592, however, Shakespeare was definitely in London and was already recognized as an actor and playwright. He was then 28 years old. In that year Robert Greene, a playwright, accused him of borrowing from the plays of others.

Between 1592 and 1594, plague kept the London theaters closed most of the time. During these years Shakespeare wrote his earliest sonnets and two long narrative poems, 'Venus and Adonis' and 'The Rape of Lucerne'. Both were printed by Richard Field, a boyhood friend from Stratford. They were well received and helped establish him as a poet.

Until 1598 Shakespeare's theater work was confined to a district northeast of London. This was outside the city walls, in the parish of Shore ditch. Located there were two playhouses, the Theatre and the Curtain. Both were managed by James Borage, whose son Richard Borage was Shakespeare's friend and the greatest tragic actor of his day.

Up to 1596 Shakespeare lived near these theaters in Bishops gate, where the North Road entered the city. Sometime between 1596 and 1599, he moved across the Thames River to a district called Backside. There, two theaters, the Rose and the Swan, had been built by Philip Hens Lowe. He was James Borage's chief competitor in London as a theater manager. The Borages also moved to this district in 1598 and built the famous Globe Theatre. Its sign showed Atlas supporting the world. Shakespeare was associated with the Globe Theatre for the rest of his active life. He owned shares in it, which brought him much money.

Meanwhile, in 1597, Shakespeare had bought New Place, the largest house in Stratford. During the next three years he bought other property in Stratford and in London. The year before, his father, probably at Shakespeare's suggestion, applied for and was granted a coat of arms. It bore the motto Non sans drift--Not without right. From this time on, Shakespeare could write "Gentleman" after his name. This meant much to him, for in his day actors were classed legally with criminals and vagrants.

Shakespeare's name first appeared on the title pages of his printed plays in 1598. In the same year Francis Mares, in 'Paladins Tami: Wit's Treasury', praised him as a poet and dramatist. Mars's comments on 12 of Shakespeare's plays showed that Shakespeare's genius was recognized in his own time.

Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603. King James I followed her to the throne. Shakespeare's theatrical company was taken under the king's patronage and called the King's Company. Shakespeare and the other actors were made officers of the royal household. The theatrical company was the most successful of its time. Before it was the King's Company, it had been known as the Earl of Derby's and the Lord Chamberlain's. In 1608 the company acquired the Black friars Theatre. This was a smaller and more aristocratic theater than the Globe. Thereafter the company alternated between the two playhouses.

Plays by Shakespeare were also performed at the royal court and in the castles of the nobles. After 1603 Shakespeare probably acted little, although he was still a good actor. His favorite roles seem to have been old Adam in 'As You Like It' and the Ghost in 'Hamlet'. In 1607, when he was 43, he may have suffered a serious physical breakdown. In the same year his older daughter Susanna married John Hall, a doctor. The next year Shakespeare's first grandchild, Elizabeth, was born. Also in 1607 his brother Edmund, also a London actor, died at the age of 27.

About this time Shakespeare became one of the group of now-famous writers who gathered at the Mermaid Tavern located on Bread Street in Cheap side. The Friday Street Club (also called the Mermaid Club) was formed by Sir Walter Raleigh. Ben Johnson was its leading spirit (see Johnson). Shakespeare was a popular member. He was admired for his talent and loved for his kindliness.

Thomas Fuller, writing about 50 years later, gave an amusing account of the conversational duels between Shakespeare and Johnson: "Many were the wit-combats betwixt him and Ben Johnson; which two I behold like a Spanish great galleon and an English man-of-war; Master Johnson (like the former) was built far higher in learning; solid, but slow, in his performances. Shakespeare, with the English man-of-war, lesser in bulk, but lighter in sailing, could turn with all tides, tack about, and take advantage of all winds, by the quickness of his wit and invention."

Johnson sometimes criticized Shakespeare harshly. Nevertheless he later wrote a eulogy of Shakespeare that is remarkable for its feeling and acuteness. In it he said:

Leave thee alone, for the comparison Of all that insolent Greece or haughty Rome Sent forth, or since did from their ashes come. Triumph, my Britain, thou hast one to show To whom all scenes of Europe homage owe. He was not of an age, but for all time! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sweet Swan of Avon! what a sight it were To see thee in our waters yet appear, And make those flights upon the banks of Thames, That so did take Eliza, and our James!

Shakespeare retired from his theater work in 1610 and returned to Stratford. His friends from London visited him. In 1613 the Globe Theatre burned. He lost much money in it, but he was still wealthy. He shared in the building of the new Globe. A few months before the fire he bought as an investment a house in the fashionable Black friars district of London.

On April 23, 1616, Shakespeare died at the age of 52. This date is according to the Old Style, or Julian, calendar of his time. The New Style, or Gregorian, calendar date is May 3, 1616 (see Calendar). He was buried in the chancel of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Stratford.

A stone slab--a reproduction of the original one, which it replaced in 1830--marks his grave. It bears an inscription, perhaps written by himself.

On the north wall of the chancel is his monument. It consists of a portrait bust enclosed in a stone frame. Below it is an inscription in Latin and English. This bust and the engraving by Martin Rosholt, prefixed to the First Folio edition of his plays (1623), are the only pictures of Shakespeare which can be accepted as showing his true likeness.

John Aubrey, an English antiquarian, wrote about Shakespeare 65 years after the poet's death. He evidently used information furnished by the son of one of Shakespeare's fellow actors. Aubrey described him as "a handsome, well-shaped man, very good company, and of a ready and pleasant smooth wit."

Shakespeare's will, still in existence, bequeathed most of his property to Susanna and her daughter. He left small mementoes to friends. He mentioned his wife only once, leaving her his "second best bed" with its furnishings.

Much has been written about this odd bequest. There is little reason to think it was a slight. Indeed, it may have been a special mark of affection. The "second best bed" was probably the one they used. The best bed was reserved for guests. At any rate, his wife was entitled by law to one third of her husband's goods and real estate and to the use of their home for life. She died in 1623.

The will contains three signatures of Shakespeare. These, with three others, are the only known specimens of his handwriting in existence. Several experts also regard some lines in the manuscript of 'Sir Thomas More' as Shakespeare's own handwriting. He spelled his name in various ways. His father's papers show about 16 spellings. Shakespeare, Shaper, and Shakespeare are the most common.

The outward events of Shakespeare's life are ordinary. He was hard-working, sober, and middle-class in his ways. He steadily gathered wealth and took good care of his family. Many people have found it impossible to believe that such a man could have written the plays. They feel that he could not have known such heights and depths of passion. They believe that the people around Shakespeare expressed little realization of his greatness. Some say that a man of his little schooling could not have learned about the professions, the aristocratic sports of hawking and hunting, the speech and manners of the upper classes.

Since the 1800s there has been a steady effort to prove that Shakespeare did not write the plays or that others did. For a long time the leading candidate was Sir Francis Bacon. Books on the Shakespeare-Bacon argument would fill a library (see Bacon, Francis). After Bacon became less popular, the Earl of Oxford and then other men were suggested as the authors. Nearly every famous Elizabethan was named. The most recent has been Christopher Marlowe. Some people even claim that "Shakespeare" is an assumed name for a whole group of poets and playwrights.

However, some men around Shakespeare--for example, Mares in 1598 and Johnson in 1623--did recognize his worth as a man and as a writer. To argue that an obscure Stratford boy could not have become the Shakespeare of literature is to ignore the mystery of genius. His knowledge is of the kind that could not be learned in school. It is the kind that only a genius could learn, by applying a keen intelligence to everyday life. Some great writers have had even less schooling than Shakespeare.

The idea that Shakespeare's plays and poems were written by another is an interesting possibility. Although it was suggested as far back as the middle of the 19th century that Bacon was the author, this belief has diminished.

People want to know more about Shakespeare's private life. They have searched his plays for hints, with little result. However, he left 154 sonnets, published, probably against his wishes, in 1609. Many readers believe that these reveal an important part of his life.

The sonnets have attracted more attention than anything else he wrote except 'Hamlet'. As poetry, they are superb. However, people are more interested in them because they may tell a true story. They story is hinted at, rather than told. It concerns Shakespeare's feelings toward a young nobleman who wronged him by stealing the affections of a sweetheart and by transferring his friendship to another poet. In the end the young nobleman is forgiven.

Whether this really happened or was only invented makes up the "problem of the sonnets." People have tried to find out who the "friend," the "dark lady," and the "rival poet" actually were. One theory is that the friend was William Herbert, earl of Pembroke. Another is that he was Henry Wriothesley, earl of Southampton. The best opinion is that the sonnets are so full of detailed passion they probably refer to some actual happening. However, this cannot be proved.

Shakespeare's other nondramatic poems include 'Venus and Adonis' and 'The Rape of Lucrece'. Both are full of gorgeous imagery and pagan spirit and very obviously the work of a young man. There are also about 60 songs scattered throughout the plays. The songs show the finest Elizabethan qualities in their originality, melodies, and rhythms.

Shakespeare's first period of writing was his apprenticeship. Between the ages of 26 and 30 he was learning his craft. He imitated Roman comedy and tragedy and followed the styles of the playwrights who came just before him. He may have collaborated with Christopher Marlowe and others. The Senecan tragedy, or "tragedy of blood," was in style at this time. Shakespeare too wrote plays in this fashion. Later he wrote chronicle, or history, plays when these became popular.

His second period is highlighted by 'Romeo and Juliet', 'The Merchant of Venice', and 'Henry IV'. He had mastered his art. He tried the comedy of local middle-class people only once, in 'The Merry Wives of Windsor'. His heart was not in it. His favorite style was the romantic comedy. During this period he shows ease, power, and maturity. The plays are generally sunny and full of joyous poetry.

With 'Hamlet', written in about 1601, his third period begins. For eight years he probed the problem of evil in the world. At times he reached an almost desperate pessimism. Even the comedies of this period are bitter.

In his fourth and last period Shakespeare used a new form. It was the tragicomedy, or dramatic romance. In his hands the tragicomedy is calm, sober, and quietly lovely. 'The Tempest' is perhaps the most beautiful and serene of all his plays.

The English Renaissance reached its peak in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603). In this period England was emerging from the Middle Ages. It changed from an absorbing interest in heaven and an afterlife to an ardent wonder about this world and man's earthly existence. It was an age when men were curious, active, and brave. They boldly explored the past, the Earth, and themselves.

At its best the period showed an intellectual and physical daring. It produced such adventurers as Walter Raleigh and Francis Drake. It had such statesmen as Lord Burghley, and such scholar-gentlemen as Philip Sidney. Philosophers such as Francis Bacon, scientists such as William Gilbert, and poets such as William Shakespeare belonged to this period.

At its worst the age was extravagant and brutal. Its extravagance showed in the general population's dress, manners, and speech, which were elaborate and ornate. The language was growing fast. It was suited to magnificent poetry. Shakespeare's vocabulary was large, but its size is less remarkable than its expressiveness. English speech reached its peak of strength between 1600 and 1610. Then the King James version of the Bible was being made, Bacon was writing his famous 'Essays', and Shakespeare was composing his great tragedies.

The people of the English middle class were stern, moral, and independent. London's citizens held fast to their rights. They did not hesitate to defy the royal court if it became too arrogant. Nobles, citizens, and common people all loved the stage, its pageantry and poetry. Wealthy people encouraged and supported the actors. They paid for the processions, masques, and tournaments which the public loved to watch. Men of the royal court competed with one another in dress, entertainment, and flattery of the queen.

The queen herself was the symbol of the glory of England. To her people Elizabeth I stood for beauty and greatness. Historians do not agree on her greatness or her flaws, but to her subjects, she was Gloriana, as Edmund Spenser portrayed her in 'The Faerie Queene' (see Elizabeth I; Spenser).

During her reign the country grew in wealth and power, despite plagues and other calamities. The queen's freedom was no greater than that of all Englishwomen. Like her, they talked, joked, and even cursed like men. (Women do exactly this in Shakespeare's comedies.)

Moralists felt it necessary to preach against the lowering of morals, the oppression of the poor, and the greediness of the nobles. England, however, was still Merrie England. It had the best inns and the richest and most varied foods in Europe. Its people were the best clothed and housed.

The defeat of the Spanish Armada raised English spirits high. Sober men were convinced that England was great. Young people believed that one Englishman could beat six Spaniards. During the years 1590-1600 the nation became intensely interested in its past. Playwrights catered to this patriotism by writing chronicles, or history plays. These were great sprawling dramas telling the stories of England's kings. Shakespeare wrote ten of them. The same interest spread to the history of other nations of Europe.

When Shakespeare came to London he found the theater alive and strong. People enjoyed going to the theater. Plays were shrewdly written for the public's taste. The theater was as popular then as movies and television are now. The first public theater had been opened in 1576. A group of talented men, the University Wits, had already developed new types of plays out of old forms and had learned what the public wanted.

Playwrights of the time were practical men, bent on making a living. They may have been well educated, but they were more eager to fill the theaters than to please the critics. The result was that almost from the start the drama was a popular art. It was not, as in France, a learned and classical art.

Shakespeare did not have any fancy notions. He listened to what the public said, and he was quick to detect changes in popular taste. He wrote his plays to be acted, not read. He took whatever forms were attracting attention and made them better. To save time he borrowed plots and put down other men's thoughts in his own words.

A dramatist in those days was also likely to be an actor and producer. He joined a company and became its playwright. He sold his manuscripts to it and kept no personal rights in them. Revising old plays and working with another writer on new ones were common. Such methods saved time. The demand for plays was great and could never be fully met.

No manuscripts of Shakespeare--with the possible exception of a scene from 'Sir Thomas More'--and very few manuscripts of other dramatists of the period have survived. The dramas were written to be played, not printed, and were hardly considered literature at all.

A company of players was a cooperative group that shared the profits. Its members had no individual legal or political rights. Instead the company looked for a patron among the rich nobles. Members became his "servants," or "men," and received his protection. A company was usually made up of eight or ten men who took the main parts. Other actors were hired as needed. Boys took the female parts, for women did not appear on the stage.

Public theaters were usually round, wooden buildings with three galleries of seats. The pit, or main floor, had no roof. There were no seats in the pit, and its occupants were called "groundlings" because they stood on the ground. Admission to the pit was usually a penny. The galleries, boxes, and stage cost more. Plays were put on in the afternoon. Private theaters were of the same general design, except that they were square and entirely roofed.

Shakespeare wrote most of his plays for the Globe Theatre. Historical research indicates that its main stage was about 40 feet (12 meters) wide and that it projected 27 feet (8 meters) into the pit and had a roof of its own. Behind it was a recessed inner stage, which could be hidden by curtains. Above the inner stage was a second inner stage, with curtains and a balcony. Above this was a music room. Its front could be used for dramatic action. On top of the stage roof were hoists for raising and lowering actors and properties. On performance days a flag was flown from a turret above the hoists.

The Elizabethans may have used no scenery, but their stage was not entirely bare. They used good-sized properties, heavy hangings, and elaborate furniture. Their costumes, usually copied from the fashionable clothes of the day, were rich. The outer stage was generally used for outdoor scenes and mass effects. The inner stage was used for indoor scenes and for cozy effects, as between lovers. The upper stage was used for scenes at windows or walls.

This stage had much to do with the form of Shakespeare's plays. Because the stage was open and free, it permitted quick changes and rapid action. As a result 'Antony and Cleopatra' has more than 40 changes of scene. The outer stage, projecting into the audience, encouraged speechmaking. This may be the reason for the long and impassioned speeches of the plays.

With no women actors, men made up as women seemed natural somehow. With no stage lighting and with the daytime sky above, the author had to write speeches about the time, season, and weather of the play. There are more than 40 such speeches in 'Macbeth'. The actors were close to the audience; the groundlings were close to the aristocrats. Shakespeare had to appeal to them all. He mixes horseplay with philosophy and coarseness with lovely poetry.

For this theater Shakespeare wrote at least 37 plays. The chief sources of his plots were Plutarch's 'Parallel Lives of Illustrious Men', Raphael Holinshed's 'Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland', and some Italian novelle, or short tales. He borrowed a few plays from older dramas and from English stories. What he did with the sources is more important than the sources themselves. If his original gave him what he needed, he used it closely. If not, he changed it. These changes show his genius as a dramatist.

Shakespeare's knowledge of men and his poetic skill combined to make him the greatest of playwrights. The world has finally made up its mind about this greatness. Many people spend their lives studying Shakespeare.

His plots alone show that Shakespeare was a master playwright. He built his plays with care. He seldom wrote a speech that did not forward the action, develop a character, or help the imagination of the spectator. The plays should be read twice. The first reading should be a quick one, to get the story. The second, more leisurely, reading should bring out details. The language itself should be studied. It has great expressiveness and concentrated meaning. An edition with good explanatory notes is helpful.

Many of Shakespeare's plots are frankly farfetched. He belonged to an age which was romantic and poetic. People still had the power to make believe. They did not go to the theater to see real life. They wanted to be carried away to other times and places or to a land of fancy. The imaginative reader today loves him for the same reason. There were really no such places as his Bohemia or Illyria or Forest of Arden, though the names were real. He has never been equaled in the invention of supernatural creatures--ghosts, witches, and fairies.

Yet Shakespeare's art is realistic in the sense that it is true to life. His plots, as in 'King Lear', 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', and 'The Tempest', may seem fantastic. Actually, they are powerfully and eternally true.

Shakespeare's people are alive and three-dimensional. They live in the mind as warmly as close friends. His best portrayals are those of his great heroes. Yet even his minor characters are almost as good. For example, he created in his plays more than 20 young women, all about the same age, of the same station in life, and with the same social background. They are as different, however, as any 20 girls in real life. The same can be said of his old women, men of action, churchmen, kings, villains, dreamers, fools, and country people.

No other writer in the world is so quotable or so often quoted. He expressed deep thoughts and feeling in words of great beauty or power. In the technical skills of the poet--rhythm, sound, image, and metaphor--he remains the greatest of craftsmen. His range is immense. It extends from funny puns to lofty eloquence, from the speech of common men to the language of philosophers.

The meter of his plays is the unrhymed iambic pentameter called blank verse. This was first used in Italy. It was taken up by English poets in the reign of Henry VIII. The University Wits, especially Christopher Marlowe, developed it as a dramatic verse form. Shakespeare perfected it. With John Milton, he made it the greatest meter in English. Blank verse is an excellent form for poetic drama. It is just far enough removed from prose. Blank verse is not monotonous and forced, as rhymed verse sometimes is. It is more ordered, swift, and noble than prose. At the same time it is so flexible that it seems almost as natural as prose if it is well written. (See also Milton, John; Poetry.)

To gain an impression of Shakespeare's power and variety, read such passages as Prospero's speech in 'The Tempest', Act IV, Scene i:

Our revels now are ended. These our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits and Are melted into air, into thin air; And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff As dreams are made on, and our little life Is rounded with a sleep.

And then read Lorenzo's speech in the last act of 'The Merchant of Venice':

Since the 1700s scholars have worked over the text of Shakespeare's plays. They have had to do so because the plays were badly printed, and no original manuscripts of them survive.

In Shakespeare's day plays were not usually printed under the author's supervision. When a playwright sold a play to his company, he lost all rights to it. He could not sell it again to a publisher without the company's consent. When the play was no longer in demand on the stage, the company itself might sell the manuscript. Plays were eagerly read by the Elizabethan public. This was even more true during the plague years, when the theaters were closed. It was also true during times of business depression. Sometimes plays were taken down in shorthand and sold. At other times, a dismissed actor would write down the play from memory and sell it.

About half of Shakespeare's plays were printed during his lifetime in small, cheap pamphlets called quartos. Most of these were made from fairly accurate manuscripts. A few were in garbled form.

In 1623, seven years after Shakespeare's death, his collected plays were published in a large, expensive volume called the First Folio. It contains all his plays except two of which he wrote only part--'Pericles' and 'Two Noble Kinsmen'. It also has the first engraved portrait of Shakespeare.

This edition was authorized by Shakespeare's acting group, the King's Company. Some of the plays in it were printed from the accurate quartos and some from manuscripts in the theater. It is certain that many of these manuscripts were in Shakespeare's own handwriting. Others were copies. Still others, like the 'Macbeth' manuscript, had been revised by another dramatist.

Shakespearean scholars have been determining what Shakespeare actually wrote. They have done so by studying the language, stagecraft, handwriting, and printing of the period and by carefully examining and comparing the different editions. They have modernized spelling and punctuation, supplied stage directions, explained difficult passages, and made the plays easier for the modern reader to understand.

Another hard task has been to find out when the plays were written. About half of them have no definite date of composition. The plays themselves have been searched for clues. Other books have been examined. Scholars have tried to match events in Shakespeare's life with the subject matter of his plays.

These scholars have used detective methods. They have worked with clues, deduction, shrewd reasoning, and external and internal evidence. External evidence consists of actual references in other books. Internal evidence is made up of verse tests and a study of the poet's imagery and figures of speech, which changed from year to year.

The verse tests follow the idea that a poet becomes more skillful with practice. Scholars long ago noticed that in his early plays Shakespeare used little prose, much rhyme, and certain types of rhythmical and metrical regularity. As he grew older he used more prose, less rhyme, and greater freedom and variety in rhythm and meter. From these facts, scholars have figured out the dates of those plays that had none.

"Greatness" is a hard word to define. A "great" play is one that affects the audience deeply. For example, 'King Lear' has a very nearly silly plot. It has obvious faults of taste. Yet it is regarded as one of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies. It moves the audience and the reader profoundly. It has sublime poetry, deep experience, touching pathos, and characters created on a grand scale. It is great, too, because one can read it over and over with appreciation.

'King Lear' is complex in detail, yet simple in plan and design. It is unforgettable in its effect. Each of the tragedies arouses similar powerful feelings. These feelings form the basis for a critic's decision as to how to rank the tragedies. Some equally general feeling of rich fun decides the rank of the comedies.

New readers need not be bound by such judgments. They should read the plays for their plots, people, and poetry. One may like a poor play better than a great one. There is nothing to worry about in this. The honest thing is to be true to one's own tastes. In time, if one continues to study, the reasons why one play is better than another will show themselves.

Shakespeare has a magic of speech and fancy which can be felt but not described. His tolerance and sympathy are great and his mind is healthy. No one else has his wide variety, his warmth, his clear-cut vision of evil, and his high regard for heroism.

He believes that man can overcome the evil in himself. He says "we are mixtures of good and evil." His people have astonishing reality. Like real people, they can be great and yet foolish, bad and yet likable, good and yet faulty. He believes that the world is made up of all kinds of people. He finds fools, criminals, and madmen fascinating. Shakespeare's people are painted larger than life. They have superhuman energy and grandeur. They stand for mankind in its greatest passions and powers, for good or for evil.

The number of books about Shakespeare is very large. If it were possible to assemble them all in one place, they would make an array of thousands. The greatest collections are in the Folger Shakespeare Library, in Washington, D.C.; the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, in San Marino, Calif.; the British Museum, in London, England; and the Bodleian Library, Oxford University, England.

The Folger collection is the greatest of all. It was assembled by Henry Clay Folger, onetime president of Standard Oil. He bequeathed it to the trustees of Amherst College to be administered for the use of the American people forever. He provided a 2-million-dollar building in Washington, D.C., which was opened in 1932. He also endowed the library to provide for its expansion and upkeep. The collection consists of 250,000 books, 40,000 manuscripts, playbills, prints, paintings, and other materials, as well as a model Elizabethan theater. Though called a Shakespeare library, it contains the world's second largest collection of books printed in England before 1641. The library possesses more than 150 copies of Shakespeare's first, second, and third folios.

Many children first become acquainted with Shakespeare through the 'Tales from Shakespeare' by Charles and Mary Lamb. This book is a classic in its own right. It is charmingly simple and shows the understanding love of the poet that made its authors write it. Its stories can never take the place of the plays themselves but they can lead young readers along a pleasant road to the plays. They also serve to remind older readers that the plays are really a kind of delightful storytelling--a fact too often overlooked by scholars and critics.

A children's book which gives an interesting picture of Shakespeare's time and which adults can read with pleasure is John Bennett's 'Master Skylark'. Marchette Chute's 'Wonderful Winter' is an excellent story of a young baronet who works for a season with the playwright. Sally Watson's 'Mistress Malapert' tells the story of a girl who joins a theatrical company of the period and finally has an opportunity to work with Shakespeare. Charles Norman's 'The Playmaker of Avon' is a delightful biography for the young reader. One of Sir Arthur T. Quiller-Couch's short stories, 'Shakespeare's Christmas', is worth reading for an amusing story of the moving of the Globe Theatre from Shoreditch to the Bankside.

A substitute for a visit to the great libraries is the 'New Variorum Shakespeare', which contains the gist of many books. This series was begun by Horace Howard Furness. The word variorum means that this edition gives the important variations from the original text of the quartos and folios. 'Shakespeare the Actor and the Purposes of Playing' by Meredith A. Skura and 'The Shakespearean Stage, 1574-1642' by Andrew Gurrs detail the theatrical environment that helped form Shakespeare's craft. They give the opinions of English and foreign critics; records of acting, costuming, and staging; a bibliography; and many other matters. There is no better way to gain an impression of the remarkable range of talent and learning that have been expended upon the plays than by leafing through one of the volumes.

Several books can serve as good, general introductions to the study of Shakespeare. A short introduction that is useful and interesting is 'Shakespeare: the Man and His Stage' by E.A. Lamborn and G.B. Harrison. A large book of similar type is 'Facts About Shakespeare' by W.A. Neilson and A.H. Thorndike. Hazelton Spencer's 'The Art and Life of William Shakespeare' summarizes facts about the bard and his times and gives a critical appraisal of each play. Hardin Craig and David Bevington have also written 'An Introduction to Shakespeare'. Younger readers will enjoy 'Introduction to Shakespeare' and 'Stories from Shakespeare', both by Marchette Chute.

Some books about the Elizabethan period are: Ivor Brown's 'Shakespeare in His Time', a work by a scholar that is also enjoyable reading, and A.L. Rowse's 'The England of Elizabeth'. Sidney Lee's 'Stratford-on-Avon' is an interesting historical account of the town. Two histories of the theater of the time are 'Shakespeare and His Theatre' by J.R. Brown and 'Shakespeare's Theater' by C. Walter Hodges.

Many books have been written on the life of Shakespeare. M.M. Reese's 'Shakespeare: His World and His Work' discusses the whole career of the author. F.E. Halliday's life of Shakespeare is a scholarly work. Marchette Chute's 'Shakespeare of London' is also based on careful research. The book uses evidence that is dated no later than 1642 and emphasizes the part of Shakespeare's life when he had a career as an actor in London.

Some of the many studies of Shakespeare's works include: 'Shakespearean Tragedy' by A.C. Bradley, 'Shakespeare's Comedies' by J.A. Vaughn, P.A. Jorgensen's 'William Shakespeare: the Tragedies', and Harley Granville-Barker's 'Prefaces to Shakespeare'. Mark Van Doren's 'Shakespeare' is notable for its exclusive attention to the poetry of the plays. Robert Speaight's 'Shakespeare: the Man and his Achievement' is written from the perspective of an actor. It is an informative discussion of Shakespeare's plays. There are also several collections of criticism, including 'Critics on Shakespeare' edited by W.T. Andrews and 'William Shakespeare: His World, His Work, His Influence' edited by J.F. Andrews.

In addition to the bibliographies included in some of these books, there are many separate bibliographic reference works that are useful. L.S. Champion's 'The Essential Shakespeare' is an annotated bibliography of major modern studies of Shakespeare.

Two similar works are 'A New Companion to Shakespeare Studies' edited by Kenneth Muir and Samuel Schoenbaum and 'A Selective Bibliography of Shakespeare' by J.G. McManaway and J.A. Roberts. 'A Shakespeare Glossary', written by C.T. Onions and revised and enlarged by R.D. Eagleson, is a helpful reference source.

Robert Malcolm Gay