Shakespeare and Elizabethan poetry : a study of his earlier work in relation to the poetry of the time
This 1979 study relates Shakespeare's work to the poetry, criticism and life of his age. Drawing upon a considerable body of evidence, it shows how Shakespeare was influenced by medieval thought, by classical sources, by the popular verse and the theatre of his day, and by the Elizabethan use of language.
History of Elizabethan drama, vol. 4
viii, 279 s. illustrations, portrait.
9780521295284, 9780521295314, 0521295289, 0521295319
472591285
List of plates; Preface; 1. Introduction: medieval and modern; 2. The artifice of eternity: court poet of Elizabeth's reign; 3. The web of being: Elizabethan poetic and the popular stages; 4. The Ovidian romance; 5. The flowing tide: Shakespeare and Elizabethan English; 6. The mirror of nature: character in Shakespeare's plays; 7. Moral heraldry: Titus Andronicus, Rape of Lucrece, Romeo and Juliet; 8. Tragical-historical: Henry VI, Richard III, Richard II; 9. The fashioning of a courtier: sonnets, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Midsummer Night's Dream; 10. Polyphonic music: All's Well, Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing; 9. Comical-historical: Henry IV, Henry V; 12. Comical-fantastic: Love's Labour's Lost, As You Like It, Twelfth Night; Appendix; Notes; Index.