William Shakespeare

Poetry for Young People

by William Shakespeare, David Scott Kastan (Editor), Marina Kastan (Editor)

William Shakespeare's verses--illustrated in remarkable color paintings created especially for this edition--engage hearts and minds, and provoke laughter as well as deep feelings. Shakespeare's classic lines move us as much today as when he first wrote the, from "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" to "Double, double, toil and trouble."

(Text used in description taken from the back of the book.)

Genres: Poetry, Picture Books, Shakespeare, Classics, Childrens, History, Biography

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

William 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".

Reviews

[Betty Strohecker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent series highlighting significant works by major poets. I acquired several of these books to use when teaching, and although designated for young people, they can be enjoyed by all ages. An introduction gives a brief biography of Shakespeare and his rise to fame, becoming one of the most celebrated authors for over 500 years. Many often quoted phrases today come from Shakespeare. I recognized portions of almost each selection included in this anthology, some of which I had to memorize during my education. Selected vocabulary is explained at the end of each entry, enhancing the enjoyment and understanding Of Shakespeare's work.

[Cynthia Egbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't think that one could be too much an apologist for William Shakespeare or too much a Shakespeare as the only author of the plays advocate, but these editors might come close! Of course, this is something that I appreciate so I am not complaining. I do love this series and love this one especially. The artwork is gorgeous and I think the passages chosen are perfect for introducing young people to the Bard.

[(NS) Brea M · Rating 3 out of 5]

This anthology of William Shakespeare includes three sonnets and twenty-four excerpts from his plays. Some of the famous plays include Macbeth, Julius Caesar, and Romeo and Juliet. Many other not as famous plays are included as well, such as King Lear and As You Like It. Each poem is adapted for readers by giving a brief summary before the poem. Summaries usually include the character’s feelings about the events at hand. For the play excerpts, the summaries also give background as to what has happened in the play prior to this part. Each page also includes difficult words or phrases and their meaning. I think this book would be excellent supplementary material for a class studying Shakespeare. Students who are having difficulty with the play could gain a deeper understanding of a specific part. The one page excerpt is much less intimidating than the entire play and students could feel success at analyzing Shakespeare on some level. While Shakespeare in general is difficult even for some adults, younger readers could gain exposure to this very famous author. Glenn Harrington illustrates each selection with impressionistic paintings. He focuses on characters and color, giving readers a sense of the emotion as well as a visual for the time period. Ages 11-14

[Cathi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the fourth POETRY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE book that I've read, and they are all terrific. I've read the ones about Edgar Allan Poe, Emily Dickinson, and Robert Louis Stevenson, and they were terrific, with great selections of poetry, beautiful illustrations (all done by different artists), and wonderful biographical information. I would recommend them to anyone, not just big poetry fans or young readers.

This little Shakespeare book did not disappoint. It contains some of the most well-known speeches and dialogue from Shakespeare's plays, as well as a couple of my favorite sonnets. The footnotes with each selection are helpful, no matter what your age or literary background. And wow, the illustrations by Glenn Harrington are haunting and beautiful!

[Tiyahna Ridley-Padmore · Rating 2 out of 5]

In the Poetry for Young People series, Scholastic aims to breath new life into the work of classic poets by making their poetry more accessible to a younger audience. The book includes a biography of the original author as well as a carefully selected series of poems accompanied by illustrations. The Poetry for Young People series also includes a glossary to help define new words that readers may come across.

I appreciate the idea behind this book, however, this wasn't a hit for young (or adult) me. The illustrations that were added were action-packed and colourful but still didn't make up for the inaccessibility of Shakespearian poems. Some of the poems such as Sonnet 18 were more engaging because of their notoriety and shorter presentation, but most the book was quite difficult to get through. Even the biography written about Shakespeare was too long and ill suited for the audience.

My mom bought me this book series as a child and though I would read everything at that time with little no discrimination, I could not get through these. Perhaps they would be better suited as a teaching resource for students in grade 7 who are learning poetry.

[Roger Flores-Chacon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wanted to know more about poetry. It was a lot stranger than I expected it to be. The book had a bunch of mixed up poems which confused me for the first part. The editors of the book should put the poems in order instead of mixing them up. It would've been a simple task. The book confused me. The title fits the book because it has poems by William Shakespeare. I couldn't find any good or bad parts. It was just not my kind of book, and that's it.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another worthy entry in the P4YP series. But the best intro. to the Bard for today's youth? I dunno. There is, after all, a lot of competition. Well anyway. The selection from Richard III makes me want to consider that play as the first 'history' that I study. (I,I, 178-204, awakening from his nightmare.)

[Laurie Wheeler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommended for our Dialectic homeschool literature studies with the curriculum we were using, but the book was too young for that age group.
Thus, my kids did a quick read and then chose something from this book to memorize for their history presentation. We put more weight on other Shakespearan books more suited for our Dialectic literature studies.

[Marguerite Corbett · Rating 3 out of 5]

This rating is for the people who decided what goes into the book. Obviously Shakespeare's work is amazing, but in this book of poetry for young people, there are only 3 sonnets! The rest are excerpts from plays. Yes he wrote everything lyrically, but its not like they couldn't find poems for at least half the book.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book of poetry to use while doing AO Shakespeare study. It gives a brief description, then the poem, and at the bottom there is definition of words. Great library book and will use this for each term....krb 11/10/17

[Tandava Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few of the most popular sonnets, plus a lot of excerpts from the plays. Not quite the selection I would have chosen for a picture book, but generally good, and the illustrations are mostly pretty well suited to the task.

[Kami · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a five star book illustration-wise, but a 1 star for poem selection. They should have made the selections shorter, my older girls (11 and 9) browsed through it a bit, but there's no way I could interest my younger boys.

[Vicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

The selections are well curated and the art adds beautifully to each selection. The definitional callouts as well as the brief summaries of where each excerpt sits in the canon are helpful without being distracting.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good selection. Start 'em off young!

[Barbara Lovejoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! It inspired me to want to read all the Shakespeare plays again. The illustrations by Glenn Harrington were especially delightful.

[Ngoc-Bich Dang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Notable excerpts with stunning illustrations. A good start for anyone attempting Shakespeare.

[Jefferson Coombs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short book, mostly containing excerpts from plays. Some were familiar to me and some were not.

[Gen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't fully understood almost every Shakespeare line I have read...that is, until now. After reading each sonnet and soliloquy in this book, I have a better understanding of Shakespeare's art. I believe that this Poetry for Young People book will be a great guide for older children/teenagers who are just beginning to learn about the famous William Shakespeare. There is a great selection of poems and plays inside. The stories themselves have been shortened so they are easier to read and comprehend. The explanations along with the word guides have truly helped me understand Shakespeare's words so much more. The realistic colorful paintings really added an important element to this book-- vivid visuals. Being able to see the illustrations of each play featured really brought Shakespeare's works to life. Shakespeare's art, for me, is complicated and challenging to understand so this book was of great help.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed that this book had a little intro on Shakespeare himself so you have some background information on him before you start to read the poems. Shakespeare is so complicated that i think its difficult to put in a way that kids will actually comprehend. I think this would be useful to middle schoolers or kids in high school. This put into better terams and easier way to understand what Shakespeare was trying to convey. It shortens the stories so their easier to read and less overwhelming. Lots of colorful pictures, one for each poem. I wouldn't recommend this one in particular for children but more as a refences for older kids learning about him to make it a little easier to get his message.

[Shay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is good for young adults, middle school or higher and actually adults too. Shakespeare's language isn't easy to interpret. this book gives a diverse array of snippets from his works. giving definitions of lesser known words or phrases on the side. I could see teaching kids some poetry from these small selections.

it was a quick read, I can now appreciate his writing a little more since it's in a smaller for that isn't over welding for me to read. I also would like to note the small summary of each selection to let us know where our mind should be in reading, again further helping with interpretation.

the illustrations gave a nice touch and helped engulf you in the scene. I enjoyed this!

[Cherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of William Shakespeare's work and i'm glad this book was compiled with his poems and short versions of his plays. I think this would be great for younger people to read, because a whole play like Romeo and Juliet would probably overwhelm them. The vocabulary is quite hard to understand, so the book includes definitions on the bottom. Instead of studying a whole book for one play, they can look go through several with this book and study the type of poetry and such. The book also includes an introduction about Shakespeare so students will understand the history. Pictures are quite vivid and aren't so bad, goes with each poem/play.

[Erica J · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of Shakespeare poems is an exceptional piece of work. Students will definitely develop an appreciation for poetry. Reading and dissecting this collection will help students develop critical thinking skills. The collection includes classic versus about love and jealousy, and betrayal, etc. You could cover numerous themes with this collection. You could also create a unit based upon characterization and emotions. Excellent classroom read/tool. Additionally, this would be great as a read aloud.

[Lindsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This compilation of poetry of Shakespeare is age appropriate and shows some of Shakespeare's best and well-known work. This book also contains paintings that illustrate some of the poetry. This book would be a good introduction to Shakespeare and may serve to get children and young people interested in the Bard. It could be used for instruction on poetry, as well as insight into Elizabethan times.

[Brinli · Rating 4 out of 5]

These poems are written by William Shakespeare and a reason I chose this one is William Shakespeare is one of my favorite authors to write plays and poetry. His poems are different from other authors because his is the kind from his time that are in the form from his plays. The days and the nights that pass to getting poems throughout his plays that he has written like romeo and Juliet.

[Heather Truett]

I had hoped this would include more sonnets and less excerpts from plays. The plays are good, yes, but the book is "Poetry for Young People." I got it because I wanted too read Shakespeare's poems with my boys. The play bits are poetic, yes, but they are out of context and didn't mean as much to my sons.

[Jared Lindland · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book a lot because it has many poems in it, it adds a nice variety. I also liked this book because it was a nice short read but it had a lot of reading and kinda made it fun to read because of the change every page. Finally, I would Definetly recommend this book to a person of any age and make sure you read it because it is just a great book in all.

[Ted · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice collection of the bard's most famous speeches and sonnets. I would love to read one of these to the students each day, as tomorrow we start Shakespeare month culminating in a student version of The Taming of the Shrew, but I finish nearly every one in tears.

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

a good selection of poems
and information about the poems explaining them to children
i love the way this series presents the poems with beautiful pictures and explianations

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

poetry for young people: william shakespeare
by david kasten
break downs the history, the stories, and the outstanding span of Shakespeare poetry

[Tina M]

Skimmed