Review: Double-billed

Shakespeare's dedications of his sonnets to the Earl of Southhampton, for instance, have naturally been "picked over" by scholars, as Mr. Bryson notes. But, he concludes, in the end "we know nothing at all about the relationship, if any, that existed between Shakespeare and Southhampton."

Mr. Bryson prints both dedications, however, and readers can see for themselves what many scholars have concluded: The two dedications are fundamentally different, indicating a shift in, if nothing else, Shakespeare's confidence and affection toward the Earl.

What's more, what Mr. Bryson doesn't mention, the second dedication is like no other Elizabethan dedication in existence: glowing, personal, even intimate sounding ("What I have done is yours; what I have to do is yours"). Which means that no other firm evidence may exist for a relationship, but that lack doesn't invalidate this warm piece of evidence. Something happened between the two publications.

In the same sceptical spirit, perhaps, Mr. Bryson foregoes almost anything to be said about the plays or poems themselves -- except loads of statistics. On average, for instance, the plays are about 70 percent blank verse, 5 percent rhymed and 25 percent prose -- from such data Mr. Bryson draws few conclusions of any great interest or depth. Too bad. The World as Stage is still halfway entertaining and a decent enough intro. But outside of formulaic statements about Shakespeare's genius, it gives us little reason why we'd read about him at all.