Surveys the criticism of Shakespeare's long narrative poem by combining 19 works reprinted from the early 19th to the late 20th century, with seven original essays. They examine it, and its stage rendition, from such perspectives as Lacanian desire, semiotics and Elizabethan wardship, women readers, mythology, aesthetics, and art history. A chronological bibliography cites scholarship, commentary, editions, and reviews of performances. No index. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.