NCW Libraries

"A new collection of poems by Pulitzer Prize-winner Paul Muldoon"--

Shakespeare's superb narrative poems and sonnets give us the most direct connection we possess to the movements of reflection and emotion in our greatest writer. In themselves, they are essential to our legacy as thinking and feeling people; as products of Shakespeare's mind, they provide endlessly illuminating evidence about the person who occupies the center of our literary civilization.

Performed as early as 1611 and published in the "First Folio" in 1623, Shakespeare's "Cymbeline" weaves an elaborate tale of palatial envy and power in Ancient Britain. Cymbeline, King of Britain, commands that his lovely young daughter Imogen marry Cloten, the violent and callous son of the current Queen by her former husband. With her heart already promised to the poor yet heroic Posthumus, Imogen refuses. Disgusted at the prospect of his daughter...

"A contemporary translation of one of Shakespeare's earliest explorations of love and friendship"--

They are formidable enemies in their own rights: a French scientist, an American millionaire, a brilliant Chinese gentleman, and a master of disguise. But together they are the Big Four, a partnership with one simple goal, murder. Hercule Poirot has never come up against an opponent so vicious, or so deadly.

"Joseph Campbell made the power of story undeniable through the power of his own storytelling. Editor Evans Lansing Smith here collects Campbell writings on Arthurian legends that make events like Merlin's death and the Lady of the Lake retrieving Excalibur not just vibrant but also central to the mythologist's thinking. Three cornerstones of Campbell's celebrated scholarship are found here. The Arthurian myths opened the world of comparative mythology...

Written in 1879, this three-act play became the worlds most performed play, a tale of drama and blackmail. Hailed as an early feminist work, this is about the struggle between independence and security, inviting the reader to examine their own life, to see what they have sacrificed for social customs, and made themselves playthings in the hands of external forces.

Folger Shakespeare Library The world's leading center for Shakespeare studies • Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play • Full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play • Scene-by-scene plot summaries • A key to famous lines and phrases • An introduction to reading Shakespeare's language • An essay by leading Shakespeare scholar, Christy Desmet, providing...

Love's Labours Lost - William Shakespeare - Love's Labour's Lost is one of William Shakespeare's early comedies, believed to have been written in the mid-1590s for a performance at the Inns of Court before Queen Elizabeth I. It follows the King of Navarre and his three companions as they attempt to forswear the company of women for three years of study and fasting, and their subsequent infatuation with the Princess of Aquitaine and her ladies. In...

William Shakespeare's shortest-but one of his most popular, tragedies features a man, who will do anything to fulfill a prophecy that will lead him to become the King of Scotland. Fresh from battle, Macbeth and his companion Banquo come across three witches who tell of great power that is in store for Macbeth. Driven by their prophecy and aided by his wife, Macbeth sets out on a journey that is, wrought with deceit, murder, and suffering to acquire...