Though written nearly 400 years ago, Shakespeare's Macbeth continues to capture the interest of modern audiences. Laden with political intrigue, supernatural elements, and complex psychological issues, Macbeth is a play of contemporary relevance, despite its tale of witches and ancient Scottish kings. While the play reflects seventeenth-century theological and political concerns, it also explores enduring themes, such as fate and free will, appearance and reality, order and disorder, ambition and obedience, and madness and sanity. Macbeth has been staged countless times, and it has also been produced for film and television. Numerous editions of the play exist, it is one of the most widely taught dramatic works, and scholars have written an enormous amount of criticism about it. This reference book is a comprehensive guide to the play.
The volume begins with a consideration of the play's textual history and a review of some of the most significant editions. The guide then examines important contexts and sources forI Macbeth, including Shakespeare's early work on Antony and Cleopatra, the Elizabethan story of bodily humors, Shakespeare's appropriation of material from Holinshed's Chronicles and Buchanan's History of Scotland, the significance of witchcraft, and the Gunpowder Plot. The book then presents a detailed examination of the dramatic structure of the play, along with a consideration of the play's most essential themes. A section on critical approaches summarizes how scholars have responded to the play. The volume then examines specific stage, film, and television productions of Macbeth and discusses the challenges of translating the text into performance. A selected bibliography concludes the work.

Macbeth: A Guide to the Play (Greenwood Guides to Shakespeare)

Literature & Fiction

Coursen, H. R.

British & Irish

Greenwood

Shakespeare is one of the world's most widely taught and most demanding authors. Fortunately, many of his plays have been adapted for film and television, and these productions are a valuable aid for helping students understand and respond to his works. This reference shows teachers and students how to master the techniques of discussing productions of his plays on film and television. It distinguishes the advantages and limitations of film and television as media for representing Shakespeare's dramas. The book then examines strategies for incorporating film and television productions in the classroom and provides many specific examples of how to write about these adaptations of the plays. The volume describes numerous educational resources, both in print and on cassette. This reference will prove invaluable to teachers and students of Shakespeare at all levels, particularly at a time when Shakespeare films are being produced at an unprecedented pace.
Although Shakespeare is one of the world's most widely taught authors, he is also one of the world's most demanding. Because of the popularity and sophistication of his works, numerous film and television adaptations of his plays have been made―some decades ago and others very recently. Shakespeare films are coming out at an unprecedented rate, as audiences continue to respond to the richness of his works. These productions are a valuable means of introducing students to Shakespeare's plays, for the film and television versions reflect different interpretations of his works. Although some productions are generally considered better than others, and all have various faults and virtues, each of them teaches us something about the play and the medium.
This reference book is a convenient guide for helping teachers and students master the techniques of discussing productions of the plays on film and television. It makes important distinctions between the two media, particularly about the conceptual and physical space available in each and the choices that space, or lack of it, impose on production. Central to the book is the concept of script, the words from which productions are generated. Because even weak productions are nonetheless interpretations of Shakespeare's scripts, they can be used effectively to explore the complex issues in his plays. The volume includes many suggestions about how to help students write well by comparing in very specific terms small segments from different productions. It lists the resources available in this rapidly growing field, both on cassette and in print, and gives many examples of critical commentary, looking at genre, editing, allusion, setting, and the script in historical context. Productions discussed include the Edzard As You Like It, the Branagh A Midwinter's Tale, the Parker Othello, the Loncraine Richard III, and seventy years of Hamlet. Students and teachers of Shakespeare at all levels will find this book to be an invaluable guide to his plays.

Teaching Shakespeare with Film and Television: A Guide

Dramas & Plays

The Tempest was first published in 1623 and is probably the last play Shakespeare wrote by himself. The product of his artistic maturity, it has inspired a variety of modern adaptations and remains one of his most popular plays. While its plot is fairly straightforward, The Tempest addresses numerous issues and topics current in the 17th century, such as magic and colonialism. Scholars, in turn, have responded by generating a vast body of criticism. This reference is a comprehensive guide to the play.The volume begins with a brief consideration of the play's textual history, followed by an evaluation of the merits of various modern editions. It then looks at some of Shakespeare's likely sources and influences, from classical literature to accounts of a 17th-century shipwreck. A chapter on the play's dramatic structure moves through the text and touches on issues raised in greater detail later in the book. The volume then studies some of the play's themes and summarizes how critics have responded to them. Finally, the book comments on the play's performance history and analyzes major productions.

The Tempest: A Guide to the Play (Greenwood Guides to Shakespeare)

Lawrence Usher is a bit late escaping the Homeland Security Police. Warned by a former lover that his name is "on a list," he plans to go to Canada. But before he can leave, two federal agents show up at his door and arrest him. On the bus to the prison camp, Usher meets Jake Gray, a Vietnam veteran. Jake already has plans to escape and since Usher is a former military pilot, Jake enlists him in the plan. Jake's sister, Marie is their outside contact. Their effort to escape is played out against an increasingly fascist United States, to which they realize they can never return, even if they do make it safely across the northern border and find refuge there. The time is the the first decade of the 21st Century.

Storm Warnings

Contemporary

Just Write Books

This is H.R. Coursen's 30th book of poetry. Over the years his award-winning poetry has appeared in Garrison Keillor's "Writer's Almanac," The Café Review, Hollins Critic, The Literary Review, Poetry Now, The South Carolina Review, Small Pond, Sports Illustrated, The Remington Review, Tar River Poetry, and many other journals. What other say about H.R. Coursen's poetry: "What a pleasure to read a poet who is as clean as a new knife!" The late Bart Giamatti "Coursen's language is easy, graceful, and immediately accessible - almost as if the sonnet were invented for him." Glen Kindilien, in Small Pond "He transforms nostalgia into a powerfully generative mode of poetic expression. a delight to read!" Michael Hall, in Poet Magazine "He should be America's most famous poet." Grace Cavalieri, Moderator, "The Poet and the Poem." "Coursen brings vivacity to history and puts language into motion...Teachers of poetry should consider using History Lessons as a text." Jack Barnes in Maine Sunday Telegram on Coursen's History Lessons

Recall: New & Collected Poems 1967-2008

The Wilderness

And Less Than Kind

Archerland is at peace. Even the island kingdom's nemesis, Mazlund, is quiet, living as a private citizen near the city of Corilus. Best of all, a new queen is coming from a faraway kingdom to marry Mark, King of Archerland. After the decades of conflict between Archerland and the Darkforce of Mazlund, the end of history is at hand. But, soon the new queen, Glorimere, is being led to the stake of execution, and along a stretch of beach, a battle rages between the monarch and rebels. Meanwhile, the rumble of tectonic plates shakes the firm earth of Archerland and sends trembles out into the surrounding ocean. Will anyone escape? About the Author: H. R. Coursen's 33rd book of poetry, Maine Seasons, with photography by John Schwartz, will soon appear from Just Write Books. Coursen lives in Brunswick, Maine, lectures in Shakespeare at Bowdoin College and the Universtity of Maine (Augusta), and teaches at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Southern New Hampshire University.

The End of Archerland

Religion & Spirituality

Sam Lanston?s distress at losing a job he loves is multiplied when he is accused of murdering the man who took his place. While no physical evidence links Sam to the murder scene, the last act of the murdered man has been to type Sam?s initials onto the sheet of paper that was in the victim?s typewriter. The prosecutor is determined to convict Sam, by means legal or otherwise, and it looks as if Sam will spend the rest of his life in the Supermax. While his hero is Henry David Thoreau, Sam Lanston discovers that the only people who survive in the new millennium are those who never raise even a mild voice of protest to the various tyrannies that would impose their will upon us. This novel explores the supposedly rational and non?violent sphere of academe and the ?real world? of the justice system outside the ivy?covered walls. 

Brute Neighbors

Genre Fiction

Recent poems by H. R. Coursen have appeared in Amoskeag, Animus, A Sense of Place, Café Review, Hollins Critic, Jung Center Newsletter, Literary Review, Maine Poetry Anthology, Maine Scholar, Monkey's Fist, Off the Coast, Puckerbrush, Shakespeare Newsletter, Small Pond, Sonnetta Poesia, Sports Illustrated, South Carolina Review, Stanza, Tar River Poetry, and Wolf Moon. His poetry has been featured twice on Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac. His books of poetry have been finalists for the National Book Award and the Pushcart Prize. He has won the best book and best poem awards from the New England Poetry Club and the best poem award from the Maine Poets Society. "One of Maine's best lyric poets..." Dana Wilde, Bangor Daily News "He is writing, in my opinion, as well as anyone and better than almost everyone." Lewis P. Turco, author of The Book of Fears "Coursen is known for his mastery of numerous poetic forms. But regardless of poetic form used, the real world comes through." Rod Farmer in Maine in Print

Pagan Songs

Poetry

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