Octogenarian Sir Frank Kermode, who has taught at Harvard and Cambridge, written about Donne, Stevens and the Bible, and whose early study, Romantic Image (1957) - about the isolation which is the Romantic conception of the artist - is still regarded as a classic, has produced a stunning book on Shakespeare. Treating Shakespeare as a poet whose rhetorical style and ornate phrasing evolved into a tighter, harsher and more complex dramatic achievement, Kermode's study works incisively and compellingly through the bard's oeuvre without sacrificing for one second the intensity of his focus on the text. Key words - eye, shadow, act, time - are opened out to reveal a kaleidoscope of meaning and subtlety. From the lesser-known plays like Troilus and Cressida to Hamlet - which "changed the idea of dramatic character forever" - Kermode's fluent, engaged, accessible approach brings us to the heart of Shakespeare's thematic intent.