The Tempest, or The Enchanted Island
The Tempest, or The Enchanted Island

Author: John Dryden

Publisher: BoD - Books on Demand

Published: 2024-04-03

Total Pages: 88

ISBN-13:

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"The Tempest, or The Enchanted Island" by John Dryden is a Restoration-era adaptation of William Shakespeare's famous play "The Tempest." In Dryden's version, he collaborated with William D'Avenant to create a reimagined and expanded interpretation of Shakespeare's original work. Set on a mysterious island, the play follows the sorcerer Prospero, who uses his magical powers to manipulate the elements and control the inhabitants of the island, including the spirit Ariel and the monstrous Caliban. When a shipwreck brings a group of noblemen to the island, including Prospero's treacherous brother Antonio, the stage is set for a series of magical encounters, romantic entanglements, and dramatic revelations. Dryden's adaptation of "The Tempest" retains much of the original plot and characters from Shakespeare's play but incorporates additional subplots, characters, and scenes to enhance the theatrical spectacle and appeal to the tastes of Restoration audiences. The result is a lavish and extravagant production that showcases Dryden's poetic talents and flair for dramatic storytelling.

The Sea and the Mirror
The Sea and the Mirror

Author: W. H. Auden

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2005-10-02

Total Pages: 148

ISBN-13: 0691123845

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Written in the midst of World War II after its author emigrated to America, "The Sea and the Mirror" is not merely a great poem but ranks as one of the most profound interpretations of Shakespeare's final play in the twentieth century. As W. H. Auden told friends, it is "really about the Christian conception of art" and it is "my Ars Poetica, in the same way I believe The Tempest to be Shakespeare's." This is the first critical edition. Arthur Kirsch's introduction and notes make the poem newly accessible to readers of Auden, readers of Shakespeare, and all those interested in the relation of life and literature--those two classic themes alluded to in its title. The poem begins in a theater after a performance of The Tempest has ended. It includes a moving speech in verse by Prospero bidding farewell to Ariel, a section in which the supporting characters speak in a dazzling variety of verse forms about their experiences on the island, and an extravagantly inventive section in prose that sees the uncivilized Caliban address the audience on art--an unalloyed example of what Auden's friend Oliver Sachs has called his "wild, extraordinary and demonic imagination." Besides annotating Auden's allusions and sources (in notes after the text), Kirsch provides extensive quotations from his manuscript drafts, permitting the reader to follow the poem's genesis in Auden's imagination. This book, which incorporates for the first time previously ignored corrections that Auden made on the galleys of the first edition, also provides an unusual opportunity to see the effect of one literary genius upon another.