A Study of Shakespeare's Versification
With an Inquiry into the Trustworthiness of the Early Texts an Examination of the 1616 Folio of Ben Jonson's Works and Appendices including a Revised Test of 'Antony and Cleopatra'

Bayfield's analysis of Shakespeare's verse and prose style and the effect of different editions on the sound of Shakespeare.

Matthew Albert Bayfield (Author)

9781108002530, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 20 July 2009

540 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 3.5 cm, 0.96 kg

The Reverend Matthew Albert Bayfield (1852–1922) published this study at the end of his life after a long career as classical scholar, editor of Greek tragedies and headmaster of several public schools. He gives an account of the structure and characteristic features of Shakespeare's dramatic verse and argues that it has been fundamentally misunderstood by other scholars. In particular, he analyses the use of contractions or abbreviations found in the Folio and Quartos and continued in the editions of his own time. He weighs up which of the contractions familiar from many editions were actually Shakespeare's, and what that reveals about how Shakespeare might have intended his prose and verse to be spoken. Bayfield's many appendices evaluating the metre of specific lines and his detailed linguistic analysis remain thought-provoking for modern editors and scholars of Shakespeare.

Preface
Part I. Shakespeare's Versification: 1. The predominant characteristic of Shakespeare's verse
2. Metre and rhythm
Part II. The Early Texts: 3. Abolition of resolutions and other abbreviations in the verse
4. Abbreviations in the verse (continued)
5. Abbreviations in the verse (continued)
6. Elision in the final foot
7. On certain spellings
8. Abbreviations in the prose
9. Conclusions
Appendices
Index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: general [DSB]