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Winter Song
Charming illustrations open the door to the world of William Shakespeare. Icicles hang by the wall, children's noses are red and raw, and Joan is busy in the kitchen stirring the pot. It is winter in Shakespeare's England. Shakespeare wrote a number of songs for his own productions. Among the most charming is "Winter Song," performed at the end of his romantic comedy Lover's Labor's Lost. Melanie Hall's illustrated version of the poem is filled with bold and beautiful images that bring to life the wintry world of Elizabethan England.
26 pages, Hardcover
Published October 1, 2006
37 people want to read
About the author
William Shakespeare
25.7k books47.2k followersWilliam Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner ("sharer") of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men after the ascension of King James VI and I of Scotland to the English throne. At age 49 (around 1613), he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive; this has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, his sexuality, his religious beliefs, and even certain fringe theories as to whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories and are regarded as some of the best works produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, all considered to be among the finest works in the English language. In the last phase of his life, he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) and collaborated with other playwrights.
Many of Shakespeare's plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. However, in 1623, John Heminge and Henry Condell, two fellow actors and friends of Shakespeare's, published a more definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works that includes 36 of his plays. Its Preface was a prescient poem by Ben Jonson, a former rival of Shakespeare, that hailed Shakespeare with the now famous epithet: "not of an age, but for all time".
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner ("sharer") of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men after the ascension of King James VI and I of Scotland to the English throne. At age 49 (around 1613), he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive; this has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, his sexuality, his religious beliefs, and even certain fringe theories as to whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories and are regarded as some of the best works produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, all considered to be among the finest works in the English language. In the last phase of his life, he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) and collaborated with other playwrights.
Many of Shakespeare's plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. However, in 1623, John Heminge and Henry Condell, two fellow actors and friends of Shakespeare's, published a more definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works that includes 36 of his plays. Its Preface was a prescient poem by Ben Jonson, a former rival of Shakespeare, that hailed Shakespeare with the now famous epithet: "not of an age, but for all time".
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 11, 2018
Could be an interesting book to introduce elementary schoolers to Shakespeare. Have them try to translate the Elizabethan English into Modern (might be a little above the heads of an average storytime crowd).
The illustrations are rich and deeply textured, which I enjoyed. And I liked the historical notes and glossary too. Again, good bonuses for a little older students.
The only thing I'd really change (what would bump it up solidly to 4 stars) would be to have a page with the entire poem printed on it. Shakespearean poems have such strong meters and rhyming schemes, and this just gets lost when only a line or two is printed on each 2-page spread. Minor thing, but I think the book would benefit from it. Otherwise, a unique addition to a child's reading on winter!
The illustrations are rich and deeply textured, which I enjoyed. And I liked the historical notes and glossary too. Again, good bonuses for a little older students.
The only thing I'd really change (what would bump it up solidly to 4 stars) would be to have a page with the entire poem printed on it. Shakespearean poems have such strong meters and rhyming schemes, and this just gets lost when only a line or two is printed on each 2-page spread. Minor thing, but I think the book would benefit from it. Otherwise, a unique addition to a child's reading on winter!
November 12, 2011
The introduction alone offers young readers a wonderful introduction to Shakespeare, but the historical accuracy of this book as an artistic rendering of Elizabethan England is also quite beautiful. The text retains its original wording and is not dumbed down at all. There is a glossary in the back, just in case, but the poem is illustrated in such a way that children would easily be able to discern the meaning behind the words.
January 10, 2014
2.5 stars - Average; so-so
This book was only so-so for me. Almost every line in the poem had it's own two-page spread, which I did not particularly enjoy. It broke up the rhyming rhythm for me in way that I found disconcerting. The illustrations were also not to my tastes, though they worked well for this work.
This book was only so-so for me. Almost every line in the poem had it's own two-page spread, which I did not particularly enjoy. It broke up the rhyming rhythm for me in way that I found disconcerting. The illustrations were also not to my tastes, though they worked well for this work.
January 3, 2022
The glossary at the end is so useful for understanding and explaining 16 century English phrases included in the poem.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews