The critic, essayist and painter William Hazlitt (1778-1830) published and lectured widely on English literature, from Elizabethan drama to reviews of the latest work of his own time. His first extended work of literary criticism was Characters of Shakespeare's Plays, published in 1817. This volume from 1908 takes the text of the first edition and adds notes explaining complex ...(展开全部)

The secret of Falstaff's wit is for the most part a masterly presence of mind, an absolute self-possession, which nothing can disturb. His repartees are involuntary suggestions of his self-love; instinctive evasions of everything that threatens to interrupt the career of his triumphant jollity and self-complacency. His very size floats him out of all his difficulties in a sea o...(展开全部)

威廉·哈兹里特（1778一1830）是英国著名散文家和文学评论家。他早年潜心绘画，后来转移志业至写作。除了政论及剧评之外，还创作了大量优美的散文。从其作品来看，他热衷于争论，擅长撰写警句、漫骂和讽刺性的文字。他最著名的散文集是《席间闲谈》和《时代精神》。

威廉·哈兹里特（1778一1830）是英国著名散文家和文学评论家。他早年潜心绘画，后来转移志业至写作。除了政论及剧评之外，还创作了大量优美的散文。从其作品来看，他热衷于争论，擅长撰写警句、漫骂和讽刺性的文字。他最著名的散文集是《席间闲谈》和《时代精神》。

本书作者通过对莎士比亚主要的八个历史剧整体系列的综合阐释，通过分析莎士比亚对待这些历史主题所保持的精思熟虑以及他大多数历史剧的精致架构，让人们更加相信莎士比亚是受过教育的，在广阔的智慧和思考的力量上是可以媲美但丁和弥尔顿的诗人；他提升了编年史剧的水平，将编年史剧变成一种独立的真正的戏剧类型，而不只是悲剧的附属品。并且从一开始到最后、在他所有的历史剧中始终对秩序原则有着稳固的意识，并因为这种意识而与同时代那些更具哲学思维的作家们更为接近。 莎士比亚历史剧以史诗的方式表现了他头脑中的中世纪以及他那个时代的生活图景，其中心主题则是被置于庄严而高度道德化语境中的英格兰或国家主题。 在西方文教传统谱系中，不断有学人将莎士比亚与柏拉图并举。莎士比亚戏剧以历史舞台为背景，深涉人世政治问题的底蕴，尤其是王者问题，一再激发后人掂量人性和人世的幽微，为后世探究何谓优良政...(展开全部)

拉布吕耶尔（1645-1696）:法国奥尔良大学法学学士毕业，曾在巴黎最高法院当律师；曾被推荐去教导大孔代亲王的孙子；做过波旁公爵的秘书和侍从；担任过财政总管职务。1693年48岁时，因《品格论》一书的贡献当选为法兰西学院院士。 (译者)梁守锵：中山大学法语系教授，中国翻译家协会“资深翻译家”。出版《法语词汇学》（1964年）、《法语搭配词典（2001年）等专著4本；出版《路易十四时代》《风俗论》（3卷）、《波斯人信札》、《威尼斯女歌手》、《昆虫的故事》、《昆虫记》（合译）等译著8种；在法国和国内一级刊物发表论文20余篇。

Helen Vendler, widely regarded as our most accomplished interpreter of poetry, here serves as an incomparable guide to some of the best-loved poems in the English language. </p> In detailed commentaries on Shakespeare's 154 sonnets, Vendler reveals previously unperceived imaginative and stylistic features of the poems, pointing out not only new levels of import in part...(展开全部)

Helen Vendler, widely regarded as our most accomplished interpreter of poetry, here serves as an incomparable guide to some of the best-loved poems in the English language. </p> In detailed commentaries on Shakespeare's 154 sonnets, Vendler reveals previously unperceived imaginative and stylistic features of the poems, pointing out not only new levels of import in part...(展开全部)

This text aims to provide a guide to some of the best-loved poems in the English language. In detailed commentaries on Shakespeare's 154 sonnets, Vendler reveals previously unperceived imaginative and stylistic features of the poems, pointing out not only new levels of import in particular lines, but also the ways in which the four parts of each sonnet work together to enact em...(展开全部)