Shakespeare, William

Shakespeare the man > Early posthumous documentation

Shakespeare's family or friends, however, were not content with a simple gravestone, and, within a few years, a monument was erected on the chancel wall. It seems to have existed by 1623. Its epitaph, written in Latin and inscribed immediately below the bust, attributes to Shakespeare the worldly wisdom of Nestor, the genius of Socrates, and the poetic art of Virgil. This apparently was how his contemporaries in Stratford-upon-Avon wished their fellow citizen to be remembered.

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  Introduction
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  Shakespeare the man
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    Life
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      Early life in Stratford
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      Career in the theatre
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      Private life
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      Sexuality
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    Early posthumous documentation
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      The tributes of his colleagues
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      Anecdotes and documents
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  Shakespeare the poet and dramatist
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    The intellectual background
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    Poetic conventions and dramatic traditions
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      Changes in language
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      Shakespeare's literary debts
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    Theatrical conditions
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    The chronology of Shakespeare's plays
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    Publication
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  Shakespeare's plays and poems
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    The early plays
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      Titus Andronicus
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      The early romantic comedies
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      The early histories
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    The poems
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    Plays of the middle and late years
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      Romantic comedies
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      Completion of the histories
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      Romeo and Juliet
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      The “problem” plays
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      Julius Caesar
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      The tragedies
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      The romances
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      Collaborations and spurious attributions
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  Shakespeare's sources
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  Understanding Shakespeare
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    Questions of authorship
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    Linguistic, historical, textual, and editorial problems
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    Literary criticism
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      Seventeenth century
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      Eighteenth century
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      Romantic critics
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      Twentieth century and beyond
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        Increasing importance of scholarship
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        Historical criticism
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        New Criticism
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        New interpretive approaches
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        Feminist criticism and gender studies
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        Deconstruction
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  Additional Reading
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    Modern editions
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    Shakespeare biography
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    Shakespearean staging and acting companies
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    Censorship and governmental regulation
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    Critical studies
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      History of Shakespeare criticism
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      Criticism of Shakespearean characters
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      Historical criticism
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      New Criticism
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      Shakespeare's language and imagery
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      Psychological, archetypal, and mythological criticism
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      New Historicism, cultural materialism, Marxist criticism, and political theatre
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      Feminist criticism and gender studies
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      Post-structuralism and deconstruction
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      Broad-spectrum criticism: language, themes, thought
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      Shakespearean comedy
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      Shakespearean tragedy
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      Shakespearean history
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      Dramaturgy and Shakespeare in the theatre