R. P. Draper

Shakespeare's comedies combine charm and wit with probing intelligence. Through detailed analysis of passages from A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It and Twelfth Night this book explores the satire and sympathy, the linguistic variety, and the dramatic skill which make Shakespearean comedy both entertaining and profound. Part II suggests connections with the rest of Shakespeare's work, and concludes with a survey of comic theory and criticism devoted to the comedies.

One of a series of books offering close textual analysis of the major works of English literature. The work contains a summary and commentary together with an analysis of a specimen passage for style, a discussion of themes and critical features and a section on the writer's life.

This critical survey of modern poetry from Thomas Hardy to Seamus Heaney considers both the self-consciously revolutionary innovations of Modernism and more traditional developments, taking fully into account the extent to which 'English' can no longer be equated solely with England. Scots, Welsh and Irish poetry, and poetry from Commonwealth countries such as Australia, New Zealand and the Caribbean, are recognised as equally important aspects of the diversity that characterises modern poetry in English; and, in particular, the contributions of North American poets such as Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, Wallace Stevens and Robert Lowell receive the major emphasis that their achievement and extensive influence warrants and attention is given to important new perspectives in the work of women poets such as Adrienne Rich, Sylvia Plath and Elizabeth Bishop.

This revised edition of the successful Casebook first published in 1975 is now up-to-date for the 1990s, with additional recent criticism reflecting major reassessments of Hardy's novel in the light of the best scholarship of the last two decades. The volume retains its previous and invaluable selection of earlier reviews and articles. The introduction by R.P. Draper, provides a perceptive overview of both the novels and the enormous range of criticism that Hardy's work has generated.

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