This book explores how Shakespeare is still alive as a global cultural icon, on the 400th anniversary of his death.

On the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, this collection opens up the social practices of commemoration to new research and analysis. An international team of leading scholars explores a broad spectrum of celebrations, showing how key events - such as the Easter Rising in Ireland, the Second Vatican Council of 1964 and the Great Exhibition of 1851 - drew on Shakespeare to express political agendas. In the USA, commemoration in 1864 counted on him to symbolise unity transcending the Civil War, while the First World War pulled the 1916 anniversary celebration into the war effort, enlisting Shakespeare as patriotic poet. The essays also consider how the dream of Shakespeare as a rural poet took shape in gardens, how cartoons challenged the poet's élite status and how statues of him mutated into advertisements for gin and Disney cartoons. Richly varied illustrations supplement these case studies of the diverse, complex and contradictory aims of memorialising Shakespeare.

This original, witty, illustrated study offers the first analytical history of the rise and development of literary tourism in nineteenth-century Britain, associated with authors from Shakespeare, Gray, Keats, Burns and Scott, the Brontë sisters, and Thomas Hardy. Invaluable for the student of travel and literature of the nineteenth century.

Without question, William Shakespeare is the most celebrated and quoted writer of all time. Whether you're a long-time fan or new to his writing, The Everything Shakespeare Book, 2nd Edition will help you fully appreciate and understand Shakespeare's works. In everyday language, this book covers everything from All's Well that Ends Well to The Winter's Tale-and every play and sonnet in between, featuring: Famous quotations Background information on Shakespeare's life and times An in-depth look at the controversy over the authorship of the works An Elizabethan English lesson Whether you're doing research for a school paper or simply building your literary knowledge, this book is the perfect introduction to the world and works of "The Bard of Avon." Cork Millner is a Shakespeare scholar, playwright, and author of several books, including To Be or Not To Be Shakespeare. He teaches writing at the University of California and Santa Barbara City College and has been on the literary staff for the prestigious Santa Barbara Writer's Conference for 20 years. He lives in Carpinteria, CA.

The Genius of Shakespeare is a new kind of biography: a biography of Shakespeare's talent and reputation, beyond the limits of his actual life. Part One explores the origins and development of his works, Part Two traces their effects on succeeding generations, and demonstrates how Shakespeare came to be regarded as the supreme dramatist.

A Goodreads Choice Award nominee The Bard meets the Backstreet Boys in this collection of 100 classic pop songs reimagined as Shakespearean sonnets This hilarious book of poetry transforms disco staples, classic rock anthems, and recent chart-toppers into hilarious iambic pentameter! All your favorite songs are here, including hits by Jay-Z, Johnny Cash, Katy Perry, Michael Jackson, Talking Heads, and many others. An entertaining journey into the world of Elizabethan poetry, and based on the immensely popular Tumblr of the same name, Pop Sonnets is the perfect gift for Shakespeare fans and music lovers alike. “Ever wonder what Taylor Swift and Beyoncé would sound like in iambic pentameter? We hadn’t either, but now we can't get enough.” —TIME

This volume contains a collection of essays on Shakespeare Jubilees around the world, from 1769 to 2014. The contributions range from the elaborate celebrations in Shakespeare's hometown to more modest festivities elsewhere; and from ambitious, theatrical, and politically loaded demonstrations to nationally colored, culturally distinct, and idiosyncratic commemorations. The variety of ways in which geographically distant countries have remembered Shakespeare has never before been the object of a comparative study. The book's essays will throw new light on Shakespeare as a shared international heritage. (Series: Studies on English Literature / Studien zur englischen Literatur - Vol. 27) [Subject: Literary Studies, Shakespearean Studies, Theater Studies]