English 150

Other Readings and Media

T.B.A.

Description

In a famous poem prefixed to the first edition (1623) of Shakespeare's collected works, Ben Jonson claimed that Shakespeare was at least the equal of ancient tragedians such as Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripedes, and Seneca, while for comedy Shakespeare surpassed �all that insolent Greece or haughty Rome� had produced. Jonson�s poem does not stop to consider the difficulties of comparing plays that derive from different eras, different cultures, and different conceptions of the theater. But this class will. At the same time, we will explore how Renaissance dramatists both imitated their classical precursors and strove to outdo them.