The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare's Language

Lynne Magnusson is a Professor of English at the University of Toronto. Her ground-breaking articles and chapters treat topics such as the grammar of possibility in Shakespeare's language and the social rhetoric of Renaissance letters. She is the author of Shakespeare and Social Dialogue: Dramatic Language and Elizabethan Letters (Cambridge, 1999). David Schalkwyk is Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Queen Mary University of London. He is a leading Shakespeare scholar and author of Shakespeare, Love and Service (Cambridge, 2008) and Shakespeare, Love and Language (Cambridge, 2018).

'Even though the volume is primarily intended for students of Shakespeare, it is no less suited for teachers, theatre professionals, and researchers who seek innovative ways to mine the richness of Shakespeare's language … What admirably binds these essays together is their careful scrutiny of the vital work that language does - what Shakespeare does with language and what the language of Shakespeare's time does to him, and what we do with Shakespeare's language and what this language does to us, in turn.' Jelena Marelj, Renaissance et Réforme

• Part I. Basic Elements: 1. Shakespeare and the problem of style Jeff Dolven; 2. Shakespeare's creativity with words Alysia Kolentsis; 3. The performative power of Shakespeare's language David Schalkwyk; 4. Verse and metre Oliver Morgan; 5. The dynamics of Shakespearean dialogue Lynne Magnusson; 6. Figures of speech at work Ruth Morse; Part II. Shaping Contexts: 7. Approaching Shakespeare through rhetoric Peter Mack; 8. Shakespeare and social languages James Siemon; Part III. New Technologies: 9. Digital approaches to Shakespeare's language Jonathan Hope; 10. Authorship, computers, and comparative style Hugh Craig; 11. Reading in time: cognitive dynamics and the literary experience of Shakespeare Amy Cook and Seth Frey; Part IV. Contemporary Sites for Language Change: 12. Writing for actors: language that cues performance Carol Chillington Rutter; 13. Language and translation Dirk Delabastita; 14. Popular culture and Shakespeare's language Douglas M. Lanier.