SHAKESPEARE & RENAISSANCE/ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND: RESOURCES: More Shakespeare Sites
The information on this LibGuide is to assist students with research into the life and times of William Shakespeare. The site also provides assistance with Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet.
The list below offers some additional useful resources for Shakespeare as well as some sites that are just for fun. (Be sure you see the Play & Sonnet tab above for help with specific plays & sonnets.)
The Agas map of Early Modern London gives glimpses into the London that Shakespeare himself would have experienced over 400 years ago. The original map was actually printed on woodblocks in 1561. Although it’s not the most exciting or information-dense website, it can be interesting all the same, especially when you zoom in to street level.
Shakespeare-Online is a leading treasure trove of the man and his works. You’ll find almost anything you could be looking for here (provided it’s in written form), from the complete texts for each play and sonnet, to study guides and detailed biographies.
Approaching Shakespeare is a free online lecture series from the University of Oxford, available both as online audio, or in iTunes. Each lecture tackles a single play, showing the listener different ways in which the work can be interpreted. This leaves open many pivotal but intriguing questions, which is one of the great appeals of Shakespeare himself.
If you don’t have the time to read or watch the plays themselves, but still desire to understand the various plots, you should visit the Shakespeare’s Summaries website. The plays are split into three categories: Comedy, History, and Tragedy. Click on any of these to be given a short plot summary which will at least give you an idea about what the individual plays are about.
The best online glossary to all the strange, confusing, and beautiful words that appear in Shakespeare’s works. Based on David and Ben Crystal’s incredible book, also called Shakespeare’s Words, it lets you look up any word instantly. It even features full-text editions of the plays with the definitions linked in!
Forget your book? Relax. Check out the Folger Digital Text site, with meticulously accurate full-texts provide by the Folger Shakespeare Library Editions.
