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Shakespeare & Beyond

Shakespeare & Beyond

The Shakespeare & Beyond blog features a wide range of Shakespeare-related topics: the early modern period in which he lived, the ways his plays have been interpreted and staged over the past four centuries, the enduring power of his characters and language, and more.

Order It: Sonnet 98
hand holding a flower
Shakespeare and Beyond

Order It: Sonnet 98

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Shakespeare & Beyond

It’s springtime, and Sonnet 98 is a wonderful seasonal selection from Shakespeare. Take this quiz to see if you can put the sonnet’s 14 lines into their correct order.

Excerpt: 'Shakespeare and Lost Plays' by David McInnis
Lost Plays book cover
Shakespeare and Beyond

Excerpt: 'Shakespeare and Lost Plays' by David McInnis

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Shakespeare & Beyond

When it comes to the theatrical landscape of Shakespeare’s London, there are the plays whose names we are familiar with — plays like Hamlet and Henry V — and then there are the plays that were being performed around the…

‘In the spiced Indian air’: Trading coin and cloth in the empire of the Great Mughal
Map of India
Shakespeare and Beyond

‘In the spiced Indian air’: Trading coin and cloth in the empire of the Great Mughal

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Author
Lubaaba Al-Azami

The spiced air of India was the stuff of legend in Shakespeare’s England, and is brought to vivid life in this famous passage from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” These were images which Shakespeare knew his audiences would understand, during a…

“Therefore we marvel”: WandaVision’s Shakespearean echoes
WandaVision juxtaposed with Antony and Cleopatra
Shakespeare and Beyond

“Therefore we marvel”: WandaVision’s Shakespearean echoes

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Austin Tichenor

Austin Tichenor reflects on the tension the WandaVision series creates between character and genre, reminding him of Shakespeare’s plays.

Recipe: A 17th-century potato pie with marrow and dates
potato pie
Shakespeare and Beyond

Recipe: A 17th-century potato pie with marrow and dates

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Author
Elizabeth DeBold

Sweet potato pies, a beloved staple of North American fall and winter cooking, are baked out of mashed or blended sweet potatoes mixed with condensed milk, eggs, and spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, mace, and allspice. Few Americans and…

Why the Folger has two sculptures of Puck
Shakespeare and Beyond

Why the Folger has two sculptures of Puck

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Erin Blake

Erin Blake tells the story of how there came to be two Puck sculptures at the Folger, after the original marble sculpture was damaged.

Lord what fools these mortals be: The story behind Brenda Putnam's statue of Puck
Shakespeare and Beyond

Lord what fools these mortals be: The story behind Brenda Putnam's statue of Puck

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Author
Erin Blake

How did the Folger Shakespeare Library’s “Puck” sculpture by Brenda Putnam (1890–1975) come to be? There is a story to tell…..

The Master of the Revels: Edmund Tilney
Shakespeare and Beyond

The Master of the Revels: Edmund Tilney

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Nicole Galland

Author Nicole Galland gives Edmund Tilney, the Master of the Revels for Queen Elizabeth I, his proper due. She writes: “Because of Tilney, playwrights became more revered among the reading classes; because of Tilney, only certain playwrights’ works were greatly…

Where to find Shakespeare in March
Shakespeare and Beyond

Where to find Shakespeare in March

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Ben Lauer

There are lots of places to watch and listen to Shakespeare online this March, especially for fans of “Julius Caesar” and “Hamlet.”

Translating Shakespeare’s plays into Persian
Shakespeare and Beyond

Translating Shakespeare’s plays into Persian

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Iranian professor and Shakespeare scholar Ali Salami has used the Folger Shakespeare’s freely available digital texts to translate almost all of the works of Shakespeare into Persian. Read a Q&A with Salami about his translation work.

“Racist Humor and Shakespearean Comedy” – An excerpt from The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Race
Shakespeare and Beyond

“Racist Humor and Shakespearean Comedy” – An excerpt from The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Race

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Patricia Akhimie writes about racist humor in Shakespeare’s comedies in this excerpt from her essay in The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Race.

“Eventful history:” The Shakespearean success of The Crown
Shakespeare and Beyond

“Eventful history:” The Shakespearean success of The Crown

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Austin Tichenor

“It’s no wonder that The Crown — nominated for a record six Golden Globes in this Sunday’s annual awards ceremony — is so successful and popular,” writes Austin Tichenor. “Its depiction of an English monarch struggling to rule Britain while…

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