NICHOLAS ROYLE is Professor of English at the University of Sussex. His books include the academic bestseller An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory (with Andrew Bennett), Telepathy and Literature, The Uncanny, and Veering: A Theory of Literature. He is also author of a novel, Quilt.

Shakespeare's legacy is all around us - in our books and our films, in our politics and in our everyday speech. With his words he has formed our world, and his influence has been greater than that of any other writer. So what makes Shakespeare's plays so powerful? Taking a single word from each of the seven most influential plays, Nicholas Royle opens up the delights and complexities of Shakespeare's language for the reader, teaching us to discover his work anew.