# Episode 318: How to Read Shakespeare

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-literary-life-podcast-743688/episode-318-how-to-read-shakespeare
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-literary-life-podcast-743688/episode-318-how-to-read-shakespeare.md
Podcast: [The Literary Life Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-literary-life-podcast-743688)
Published: 2026-03-03T06:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://theliterarylife.libsyn.com/episode-318-how-to-read-shakespeare
Audio file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/theliterarylife/TLL318final.mp3?dest-id=1228634
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-literary-life-podcast-743688/episodes/episode-318-how-to-read-shakespeare
Duration seconds: 5040

## Resource

Today on The Literary Life podcast, Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks are here to offer some helpful ideas for reading Shakespeare plays and how to approach the Bard. They start off sharing their own stories of first being exposed to Shakespeare. Next, Thomas and Angelina address the idea that Shakespeare is too high-brow for the ordinary reader. Angelina also gives her hot take on whether you should watch or read a Shakespeare play first. She also tells some stories about reading the Bard with her children and students. Some other helpful topics they cover are the different types of plays and their forms, the cosmology behind the plays, and potential problems with some modern interpretations of Shakespearean drama. Please visit our website to view the full show notes for this episode with links to previous episodes we have done on Shakespeare, as well as the books mentioned as resources in this discussion: https://theliterary.life/318 . Join us back again here next week when we begin our series covering Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë! You can check out all the latest offerings of mini-classes and webinars, both upcoming and recorded in the past, at HouseofHumaneLetters.com .

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## Transcript

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