This complete, line-by-line translation of Twelfth Night makes the language of Shakespeare's play contemporary while preserving the metrical rhythm, complexity, and poetic qualities of the original. The aim is to capture both the sound and sense of Shakespeare's romantic comedy without the need for glosses or notes--to use more comprehensible language without simplifying or modernizing the play in any other way.

• Line-by-line verse translations, not prose paraphrases.
• Complete. No lines deleted or simplified.
• Accurate, authentic iambic pentameter....

Love and marriage are the concerns of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. Lucentio's marriage to Bianca is prompted by his idealized love of an apparently ideal woman. Petruchio's wooing of Katherine, however, is free of idealism. Petruchio takes money from Bianca's suitors to woo her, since Katherine must marry before her sister by her father's decree; he also arranges the dowry with her father. Petruchio is then ready to marry Katherine, even against her will.

Katherine, the shrew of the play's title, certainly acts much changed. But have she and Petruchio learned to love each...