Book Blurbs
In The Shadow of the Globe is an astonishing surprise. Michelle Cameron has conjured a world and spun a poetic tale that not only honors and exalts Shakespeare and his universe but brings it to vivid, visceral, and heartbreaking life. It is a unique and breathtaking work of art inspired by the man and the theatre that defined humanity in its totality. — Bonnie J. Monte, Artistic Director, The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey
Michelle Cameron’s long poem, In the Shadow of the Globe, is a tour-de-force, a breathtaking history lesson, and poetry of the highest and most ambitious order. In this astonishing work, playbills from Shakespeare’s theater company provide the locus for the different voices in Shakespeare’s world to spring to life, beautifully urgent and animated, to recount the drama of the incidents surrounding the Bard (the building of the Globe, Shakespeare’s dalliance with the Dark Lady, the plague descending upon London). In an age of slight poems and insufficient ambition, Cameron proves herself the “real thing:” a poet of daring and verve, imagination and incredible risk-taking. — Terri Brown-Davidson, Author of The Carrington Monologues (a narrative poem about the life of Dora Carrington)
In the Shadow of the Globe is an iridescent journey through the history, with extraordinary layers of mesmerizing, heart wrenching and inspirational insights into the lives of our antecedents at the Globe Theatre – written in crisp, haunting and moving poetry. What an educational piece this is for high schools and for Shakespeare Festivals, who would benefit by incorporating this into their education curriculum. — Debbie Chinn, Managing Director, The Shakespeare Theatre of California
Reviews
Michelle Cameron’s narrative poem In the Shadow of the Globe is an intelligent, thought provoking, and ambitious piece of art. – Loren Kleinman, Sidereality, Issue 3, Vol. 1
Michelle Cameron has written a small classic that will be around for a long time. – Jim Boring, Pedestal Magazine
While Michelle Cameron’s poetry collection, In the Shadow of the Globe, is packed with deft references and allusions to Shakespearean history and the book will, without a doubt be studied in classrooms for decades to come, her manuscript is poignant and enlightening to every reader with a beating heart – for she explores the entire theater of human love – its foiled plans, its powerful longings, and sometimes lucky resolutions of bliss. – Janet Buck, Offcourse, Issue 19, Winter 2004
In the Shadow of the Globe mixes history and imagination, just as Shakespeare did, to create a portrait of a way of life, a community whose equal love for art and pleasure would be echoed later in the Golden Age of Hollywood and the heyday of the Beat poets. – Summer Lopez, Small Spiral Notebook, Volume II, Issue 4
Reader Reactions
There are books that make us remember why we read, books that remind writers why we write. Michelle Cameron’s In the Shadow of the Globe reminds us why we live. This book of poetry spanning the lives of Shakespeare and his companions at the Globe Theatre weaves a spell over the reader from the first line, drawing her in with its brilliance and its beauty. It is unconscionable that this book is out of print. –Christy English, Author of To Be Queen, The Queen’s Pawn, Dial “L” for Loser
I love your epic poem. It’s fun, insightful, imaginative. One might nitpick your chronology, but who cares? I am half-way through it, enjoying it immensely, but my heart leaped at Cuthbert’s advice to Peter Street on how to build a playhouse. How right, how accurate: a machine in which to act, not a celebration of the art of scenic design, not built in accordance with the physics of the motion picture projector, no ceremonial hall for wine-and-cheese shmoozing, no architectural monument to someone’s wealth. A machine in which to act, where the alchemy of the Playwright’s words in the actors’ bodies can be realized by the sense of the audience to create the delicate magic of theatre. God bless you, dear lady, you and Cuthbert nailed it. – Paul Barry, Founder of the NJ Shakespeare Festival and director of all 38 of Shakespeare’s plays
You are a fine poet; furthermore, in the world of Shakespearean writing, yours is an original voice. – Frank Occhiogrosso, Professor of Shakespeare and English Literature, Drew University and author of Shakespeare in Performance: A Collection of Essays (Delaware University Press).
Your poems are such an incredible chronicle and joyous celebration of Shakespeare. – Jason Little, Director, Stella Adler Studio of Acting, New York
You have accomplished something unique. – Walter Cummins, Editor Emeritus, The Literary Review.
I just finished your book and want you to know how much I enjoyed it! It is marvelous — so imaginative, so evocative of the times (love your use of the language of the times), the characters so compelling. I admire the flow of your words, how it’s all of a tone (applause for the internal rhymes), the fine imagings, your eye for detail. Bravo! – Wanda Praisner, poet
