Love's Labour's Lost: A Guide to the PlayLove's Labour's Lost has had a puzzling history. Until the 1950s it was generally considered one of Shakespeare's earliest plays, and it was one of his most vilified until the 20th century. Perhaps more than any other Shakespearean play, it explores the power and limitations of language, and this blatant concern for language led many early critics to believe that it was the work of a playwright just learning his art. Because of its linguistic density, it is one of Shakespeare's most demanding plays, and this difficulty helps account for its initial unpopularity. But modern critics have begun to study the play in earnest and it is now one of Shakespeare's most popular works. This reference is a thorough introduction to the play's origins and legacy. |
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... poet's career . Most of the play takes place in a park , a great many of the dominant images and poetic conceits are concerned with nature ver- sus artifice , and the young protagonists are learning how to manage their literary talents ...
... poetic discourse . Throughout the play various controversies regarding language that were germane to the sixteenth century ( e.g. , pronunciation , spelling , language acquisition , classical versus vernacular language , wit through ...
... poetic ( 275 ) . This imagery appears in almost all facets of the play - rich , poetic imagery pervades the poetry of the young men , and comic imagery , often in the form of puns , informs most of the comic banter . Spurgeon , who ...
Contents
Textual History | 1 |
Contexts and Sources | 29 |
Dramatic Structure | 55 |
Copyright | |
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