The twelve essays were written not simply to honor Stephen Booth, but to further the study of Shakespeare. Booth has, for over forty years, proposed a distinct understanding of how Shakespeare s plays and poems work upon us and a unique and rigorous way of reading them. The essays here reflect his insights and method and are meant both to recognize his monumental achievements as a critic and to suggest the enduring value of his work to Shakespeare scholarship. The first essay explains the method and the advantages of Booth s approach to Shakespeare. The next two on Romeo and Juliet and The Rape of Lucrece demonstrate Booth s way of reading Shakespeare. The next four develop Booth s contention that Shakespeare often sets audiences to watch or, rather, to try to watch a play other than the one he shows them. The next two essays look at textual problems from Booth s perspective and explore the challenges editors face in their attempts to establish authentic texts for modern readers. The last three essays focus on teaching and include a description of Stephen Booth s teaching practices and his own renown explanation, through a commentary on Philip D. Eastman s Go, Dog. Go , of the way poetry works upon its readers and the reasons they value it highly. The book concludes with a bibliography of Stephen Booth s work."

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