In The Forest Of Arden

The first Arden edition of a Shakespeare play I ever picked up was that of Macbeth from Denton Library. I don't think I made it through the first witches scene. Almost two full pages of densely arcanely academic notes for about twelve lines of text (which, if played in a hurry, can take less than a minute of stage time.)

That's not the way to read Shakespeare, not when you're twelve. In fact, you shouldn't read Shakespeare at that age, except to act it.

So why have I been happily wading through Frank Kermode's introductory material to his Arden edition of The Tempest? Because it's wonderfully informative stuff once you know the play, seen the play, felt the play. But then it should be back to the play - don't get lost in the forest; don't mistake the wood for the trees.