Frank Kermode has a strong claim to be Britain's most distinguished literary critic. Over the course of a long career, he has written on a enormous variety of English literature, most recently William Shakespeare's plays. This collection should be of keen interest to lovers of that literature, and also to those interested in post-war British intellectual life. For as much as these essays exemplify the tension, the patience and the insight of a great critic, in their defense of proportion and clarity they are also works of ethical importance.