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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Hdailfations ajf During the palmy days of the drama, as they are called, people went oftener than they do now to see the plays of Shakspeare represented on the stage; but they studied them less in the closet. Hence veneration for the name of the pout was not necessarily accompanied by an accurate knowledge of his poetry; and while that name appeared in the bills the audience felt satisfied that they heard the genuine strains of the Swan of Avon, whereas, in many cases, they were presented with parodies of the Shakspoarian creations, rather than with the creations themselves. The form in which several of Shakspearc's plays appeared, not more than thirty years ago, was the result of corruptions and partial restorations, the history of which extends over something like a century and a half. Within the hist thirty years, on the other hand, a respect for the text of the poet has sprung up, which was totally unknown to the past generation, with the exception cf the literary few; and managers have therefore vied with each other in banishing the interpolations and supplying the omissions of a former age. Save in the case of one popular play, Shakspeare's text has been taken as the basis of stage representation, without regard to his adaptors; the introduction of new matter into the text has been strictly prohibited, and where excisions have been made, it has been not with the intent ion of improving Shakspeare, but in deference to two qualities which distinguish our age from his?namely, an increased sensitiveness to indelicacies of language, and a less commendable dread of the tedious. Those managers who have carried to the extreme the theory that Shakspoare is most highly honoured when his works are made a vehicle for pageantry show a respect for his words which would have astounde...
| ISBN-13 | 9780217074919 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10 | 021707491X |
| Weight | 2.51 Pounds |
| Dimensions | 9.00 x 6.00 x 1.54 In |
| List Price | $45.29 |
| Format | Paperback |
|---|---|
| Pages | 790 pages |
| Publisher | |
| Published On | 2009-08-01 |
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