With pace and verve, the introduction delivers the most up-to-date account of the play's critical and performance history,The most thorough appraisal of the comedy as a proto-environmental text that has become a touchstone for early ecocriticism,Provides an innovative re-assessment of the play and its iconic 'Seven Ages of Man' speech through the lens of critical age studies,Combines fresh, new scholarship from leading researchers with authoritative texts and comprehensive notes in order to offer readers a complete guide to Shakespeare,Uses the text from the landmark The New Oxford Shakespeare: Modern Critical Edition collated from all surviving original versions of Shakespeare's work,Presented in modern spelling and punctuation with accessible critical apparatus to best aid understanding of the plays and poems