6. Name his first poetic productions, and state when they were published. VI, 135.
7. What is known as to the order of publication of his dramas? VI, 135.
8. Which of Shakespeare's plays have endeared him most with his countrymen? VI, 137, 138.
9. What plays were written in the retirement of his latter years at Stratford? VI, 143.
10. Compare Marlowe's "Faustus," IX, 43, with "King Lear," XI, 3; and Jonson's "Every Man in his Humor" and "The Alchemist," VII, 346-354, with "Henry IV," X, 424. What are the divergences in style; in method of portraying character?
FROM "KING LEAR"
1. This act from "King Lear" is the most masterful passage in all Shakespeare's work. The characters are all of them tense with emotion, either grief-stricken or insane. Lear himself, at first vexed, then infuriated (XI, 7), broken with anguish (11), and apprehending madness (16), collapses and goes completely insane (19). Kent, his faithful retainer, whom he had previously sent into exile, watches him with a sorrow that is almost more than he can bear. The Fool, crack-brained and simple, is the blending of idiocy and shrewdness sometimes known as 'an innocent.' Edgar, Gloucester's good son, cast out by his shortsighted father, feigns madness for the sake of disguise. Each of these four characters represents a different psychological condition. Such a task as the dramatic manipulation of these personalities has never been attempted before or since. Madness, though a common subject with Shakespeare's contemporaries, has not elsewhere been handled with success.
The use of prose indicates disorder of the mind; thus Lear speaks in blank verse until his intellect gives way (19), and thereafter only when showing the power of reasoning, as in the speech (35) on which Edgar makes the comment: "O, matter and impertinency mix'd!" The Fool uses prose or nonsense rhyme throughout; Edgar while playing the madman does the same, and assumes blank verse when he drops the disguise.
FROM "AS YOU LIKE IT"
1. How is the title of the play appropriately suggestive of its tenor?