Shakespeare small and pale (4)
I believe the answer is:
swan
'shakespeare' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't understand how they can define each other.
'small and pale' is the wordplay.
'small' becomes 's' (abbreviation - e.g. clothes size).
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'pale' becomes 'wan' (wan can mean pale or grey).
's'+'wan'='SWAN'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for swan that I've seen before include "Large waterbird" , "Mute, whooper or Bewick's bird" , "... Australian river" , "Royal bird" , "black, in 7th" .)