Shakespeare and the Emblem Writers an exposition of their similarities of throught and expression, preceded by a view of emblem-literature down to A.D. 1616

About this book

The work is a scholarly study that sets out to demonstrate how Shakespeare’s poetry and drama echo the thought‑patterns and visual motifs of the emblem tradition that flourished up to 1616. It begins with a prefatory statement in which Henry Green, M.A., explains his motivation: a series of observations on the “similarities of thought and expression” between the playwright and early emblem writers, a recognition of earlier critics such as Francis Douce, and a desire to assemble the scattered evidence of Shakespeare’s direct quotations of emblem mottoes and descriptions of emblem devices. The opening pages describe the book’s extensive illustrative material, over two hundred woodcuts and photolith plates reproducing emblematic designs, portraits of emblem authors, and a newly engraved portrait of Shakespeare, while outlining the volume’s structure: a survey of emblem literature, a catalogue of Shakespeare’s encounters with emblem books, and a detailed classification of the parallels he draws across historical, heraldic, mythological, fable, proverb, natural, poetic, moral and aesthetic emblems.

Written in the formal, nineteenth‑century academic voice of an erudite Victorian scholar, the text combines meticulous citation, extensive footnotes, and a reverent tone toward both Shakespeare and the emblematic tradition. Its dense, reference‑rich style will appeal to specialists in Shakespearean studies, historians of early modern literature, and collectors of emblem books who appreciate exhaustive indexes and illustrative plates. Graduate students and literary historians seeking a comprehensive, source‑based account of how emblematic imagery informed Shakespeare’s creative process will find this volume a valuable, though demanding, resource.