David Bevington, the current president of the Shakespeare Association of America, is widely recognized for his contributions to the field of Shakespearean scholarship. Throughout the anthology, all sections are introduced with a clarity specifically designed for classroom teaching. Important discussion issues are outlined, along with sources for each play and the stage history of performances. This updated version retains thoughtful commentaries on individual lines and phrases and provides stage directions so students can visualize the plays. Notable changes to this edition include the addition of The Two Noble Kinsmen, a more detailed examination of Troilus and Cressida, and A Funeral Elegy - a poem recently proposed with considerable authority as written by Shakespeare.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was born to John Shakespeare and mother Mary Arden some time in late April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. There is no record of his birth, but his baptism was recorded by the church, thus his birthday is assumed to be the 23 of April. His father was a prominent and prosperous alderman in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, and was later granted a coat of arms by the College of Heralds. All that is known of Shakespeare's youth is that he presumably attended the Stratford Grammar School, and did not proceed to Oxford or Cambridge. The next record we have of him is his marriage to Anne Hathaway in 1582. The next year she bore a daughter for him, Susanna, followed by the twins Judith and Hamnet two years later. .
Seven years later Shakespeare was recognized as an actor, poet, and playwright, when a rival playwright, Robert Greene, referred to him as "an upstart crow" in "A Groatsworth of Wit." A few years later he joined up with one of the most successful acting troupes in London: "The Lord Chamberlain's Men." When, in 1599, the troupe lost the lease of the theatre where they performed (appropriately called "The Theatre"), they were wealthy enough to build their own theatre across the Thames, south of London, which they called "The Globe.
