Shakespeare by Sir Walter Alexander Raleigh

"Shakespeare" by Sir Walter Alexander Raleigh is a historical literary study written in the early 20th century. The book examines the life, character, and enduring influence of William Shakespeare, reflecting on how his works have been interpreted and revered across different eras. Raleigh discusses both Shakespeare’s literary achievements and his position in English cultural history, making this work suitable for readers interested in literary criticism or the legacy of major writers. The opening of the book focuses on the challenges each era faces in appreciating and understanding Shakespeare. The author describes how contemporaries saw Shakespeare primarily as a successful playwright and actor rather than a genius, and how his elevated status grew after his death, particularly following the publication of the first folio. Raleigh examines the shifting critical attitudes toward Shakespeare, highlighting both exaggerated reverence and the pitfalls of over-analysis. He makes the case that Shakespeare is best understood through his works themselves rather than through biographical details or speculative interpretations, emphasizing the universality, humanity, and creative abundance found in his plays. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

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About this eBook

Author Raleigh, Walter Alexander, Sir, 1861-1922
Translator Lehtonen, J. V. (Johannes Vihtori), 1883-1948
Title Shakespeare
Original Publication Porvoo: WSOY, 1908.
Credits Tuula Temonen
Reading Level Reading ease score: 25.6 (College graduate level). Very difficult to read.
Language Finnish
LoC Class PR: Language and Literatures: English literature
Subject Dramatists, English -- Early modern, 1500-1700 -- Biography
Subject Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Biography
Subject Stratford-upon-Avon (England) -- Biography
Category Text
EBook-No. 75821
Release Date
Copyright Status Public domain in the USA.
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