Shakespeare

Mark Van Doren was for many years a luminary in the English department at Columbia University. He was also a much-admired American poet. Like all great teachers, Van Doren was celebrated not only for his special insights, but also for the wonderful way he had of bringing them to life for his students, who over the years included the young Richard Howard, John Hollander, and Allen Ginsberg. Both those insights and the warm and generous intelligence with which it was conveyed are very much on display in Van Doren's Shakespeare, which draws on this master teacher's long years in the classroom to present a play-by-play account of the works of the Bard. Van Doren deftly guides the reader though the labyrinthine intricacies of Shakespeare's language, the better to reveal the mysteries at the heart of his achievement, bringing out the astonishing beauties of Shakespeare's protean creation.