The Sweet Silvery Sayings of Shakespeare on the Softer Sex (Cambridge Library Collection: Literary Studies)

Product Description<br/><br/><br/>The anonymous 'Old Soldier' who compiled this anthology of passages from Shakespeare, published in 1877, states in the preface that he was inspired to make his selection by a passage in The Gentle Life: Essays in Aid of the Formation of Character, by the now largely forgotten Victorian essayist James Hain Friswell: 'If a man wanted to make a sugar-sweet book ... let him go through the plays of the great national Poet, and make an extract of those passages wherein he has exalted woman.' In thirty-three sections (four plays are omitted), extensive quotations present examples of 'exalted woman' and give an insight into the taste of the educated middle class in the mid-Victorian period.<br/><br/><br/>Book Description<br/><br/><br/>This anthology of passages from Shakespeare, selected by 'An Old Soldier' and published in 1877, provides extensive quotations from the plays (of which four are omitted), on the theme of 'exalted woman', giving an insight into the taste of the educated middle class in the mid-Victorian period.<br/><br/><br/>About the Author<br/><br/><br/>Arguably the greatest English-language playwright, William Shakespeare was a seventeenth-century writer and dramatist, and is known as the Bard of Avon. Under the patronage of Queen Elizabeth I, he penned more than 30 plays, 154 sonnets, and numerous narrative poems and short verses. Equally accomplished in histories, tragedies, comedy, and romance, Shakespeare s most famous works include Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, The Taming of the Shrew, and As You Like It.<br/>Like many of his contemporaries, including Christopher Marlowe, Shakespeare began his career on the stage, eventually rising to become part-owner of Lord Chamberlain s Men, a popular dramatic company of his day, and of the storied Globe Theatre in London.<br/>Extremely popular in his lifetime, Shakespeare s works continue to resonate more than three hundred years after his death. His plays are performed more often than any other playwright s, have been translated into every major language in the world, and are studied widely by scholars and students.