Shakespeare's Language

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by Frank Kermode

Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, Inc

Due/Published July 2001, 336 pages, paper

ISBN 0374527741

A magnum opus from our finest interpreter of The Bard.

Frank Kermode, Britain's most distinguished scholar of sixteenth-century and seventeenth-century literature, here restores Shakespeare's poetic language to its rightful primacy. How did this language develop? Something extraordinary happened in Shakespeare's plays during the first decade of the seventeenth century, and Kermode explores the nature and consequences of this dynamic transformation. The originality of his argument, the elegance and humor of his prose, and the intelligence of his discussion make this a landmark in Shakespearean studies.

Frank Kermode has written and edited many works, among them Forms of Attention and a memoir, Not Entitled (FSG, 1995). He lives in Cambridge, England, and has frequently taught in the United States.

". . . the honey of a lifetime's visits to the Shakespearean garden . . . Kermode proves himself Coleridge's worthy heir." (James Woods, The New Republic)

"[T]he crowning action of [Kermode's] splendid career of criticism . . ." (Richard Howard, The American Scholar)

"[A] wonderful book, in which a master critic at the summit of his powers pays homage to a master playwright, whose electrifying eloquence holds us spellbound to this day."(Kiernan Ryan, The Independant on Sunday)