Shakespeare's Words: A Glossary and Language Companion

This is an extremely well put together piece of work. It is very easy to use and should appeal to both the enthusiast and the student. It's cross referencing is excellent and includes a synopsis of every play, the Dramatis Personae of each play and the relationships between all of the characters. It has made my life a lot easier when it comes to 'diagnosing' a Shakespeare text.

Professor David Crystal and Ben Crystal have carved THE Shakespeare Bible! A glossary which outshines in its meticulous trimness, neatness and accuracy. In a profoundly responsible manner, the authors carefully gloss each and every word in Shakespearean English which may arouse miscomprehension or ambiguity of context. All the polysemantic words are neatly cited with clear references to the particular contexts. So, the great merit of this enormous enterprise is that it does not impersonally state the word meanings in Shakespeare - but displays an extremely accurate context-centered approach to studying Shakespearean lexicon. Which is an indispensable help to a student of Shakespeare's language and a student of Shakespeare's literature. The contexual meanings of the cited words - in the very play, the very scene and the very speech - shed light both on any undertaken linguistic exploration into the Bard's language and on an intimate understanding of Shakespeare's masterpieces by an audience, an actor and a Bardaholic!

Yes, it need be mentioned that there are synopses, and helpful circles of the plays to clarify who is who to whom and wonderful appendices of classical mythology names, folklore, dialects and other specific nuances illuminating Shakespeare's texts.

Everything you want from a Shakespeare glossary written and presented in a very easy-to-follow way.
A must to anyone who work with Shakespeare's work and for general Shakespeare fans.

This is basically a dictionary of Shakespeare. It is well laid out, easy to use and informative. It gives definitions for all the words you may come across in the text which you are struggling with. It also gives meanings to words which have changed over the years and which we might read differently to a contemporary of Shakespeare.

You might think that you don't need this because if you have a good copy of the play text it will give you a glossary with it. I have however recently been studying Taming of the Shrew, using a highly recommended play text, and not all the words were included in the glossary. I also found that as words are often quite nebulous it was interesting to look them up both in the play glossary and Crystal's book because they sometimes differ slightly and enrich my understanding.

There are several other useful features of this book. Each definition offers examples from the plays in which they are used, which can be great for comparison purposes, even if the play quoted is not the one you are reading. There are also mini lessons on certain styles of speaking contemporary with the time, and a potted history of each play.

This is not an inexpensive book, it is however, what I would class as an invaluable book for those serious about understanding Shakespeare and wanting to get the most out of his language.

An incredibly informative and user-friendly guide, not just to the language of Shakespeare, but to the English Language as a whole in the 16th and early 17th centuries.

Not only does the glossary explain specific words of difficulty it also encorporates the many different ways that Shakespeare, (and many of his contemporaries) used grammar. Crystal includes a short summary of 39 of Shakespeare's plays, and detailed diagrams show the different social networks of the characters in each.

David Crystal has excelled himself yet again, creating a reference for a wide audience; as this like many of his books is written and set out in a style which is both user-friendly and academic.

Definatly worth the money and the time to read. This is a book that you will go back to again and again!