The New Statesman
•73% Informative
It is the 400th anniversary of the publication of the First Folio, the collection of plays published in 1623 .
Libraries, universities and museums have busted out their First Folios , displaying the title-page portrait of a balding Shakespeare sporting the vaguely offensive peach fuzz of an unwashed teenager.
The Droeshout portrait of Shakespeare is so hideous that some scholars have grasped for an alternate image of the author.
The First Folio was an expensive undertaking, several years in the making.
The figure is as stripped of pomp as Lear cries, “ Doth any here know me? Who is it that can tell me who I am?”.
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has adopted it as Shakespeare , emblazoning the image on souvenirs, T-shirts, and guidebooks.
The rebranding has extended to Shakespeare books, too.
This autumn , Cambridge University Press published What Was Shakespeare Really Like? by Sir Stanley Wells .
VR Score
69
Informative language
64
Neutral language
63
Article tone
semi-formal
Language
English
Language complexity
47
Offensive language
offensive
Hate speech
not hateful
Attention-grabbing headline
not detected
Known propaganda techniques
detected
Time-value
long-living
External references
5
Source diversity
5
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