Painting of William Shakespeare attributed to John Taylor, c. 1610.
For the month of April, we’ll look at some wonderful open-access (aka free!) resources on William Shakespeare, who was born in April 1564 and died in April 1616! This week, I’ll share some websites that give a general overview of the famous bard’s life and writing.
First up is the ever-classic Encyclopedia Britannica which has created a Guide to Shakespeare. This is a great place to start (besides the UArts Libraries, of course!) for anyone studying Shakespeare. The guide includes a comprehensive biography, synopsis of his plays, and audio and video of some of the plays’ greatest scenes.
Another excellent site that provides a great overview of Shakespeare is the Internet Shakespeare Editions. This resource covers the life and times of the bard and performances of his plays, and fully annotated text of his plays and poems.
Finally, make your professors proud and use Borrowers and Lenders: The Journal of Shakespeare and Appropriation for your scholarly research! Borrowers and Lenders is an open-access, peer-reviewed multimedia journal dedicated to the scholarship on Shakespeare.
As always, don’t forget the resources at the UArts Libraries! The librarians here have put together an excellent subject guide on Shakespeare to help you navigate all the books, articles, and even more websites available to you. Also check out how many videos and DVDs we have of Shakespeare’s plays!