. A short history of England's and America's literature, by Eva March Tappan. and He was recognized as a successful playwright,Adonis. anci ajs0 as a poet, for his Venus and Adonis 1592? Lucrece. and Lucrece had won a vast amount of admira-1593-94. tion. The mellifluous and honey-tonguedShakespeare, one of the critics called him, and spokewith praise of his sugerd sonnets that were passedabout among his friends. 59. Historical Plays. After some merry, sparklingcomedies, such as A Midsummer Nights Dream andThe Comedy of Errors, there came a time when the poetseemed fascinated by the history of
. A short history of England's and America's literature, by Eva March Tappan. and He was recognized as a successful playwright,Adonis. anci ajs0 as a poet, for his Venus and Adonis 1592? Lucrece. and Lucrece had won a vast amount of admira-1593-94. tion. The mellifluous and honey-tonguedShakespeare, one of the critics called him, and spokewith praise of his sugerd sonnets that were passedabout among his friends. 59. Historical Plays. After some merry, sparklingcomedies, such as A Midsummer Nights Dream andThe Comedy of Errors, there came a time when the poetseemed fascinated by the history of his own land. In 1596] SHAKESPEARES CENTURY 99 writing historical drama Shakespeare was never a stu-dent-author ; Elizabethan life moved too rapidly for muchsearching of old manuscripts and records. Shakespearesspecial power as a dramatist of history lay in his sympa-thetic imagination by which he understood the men ofbygone days. He read their motives, he pictured themas he could imagine himself to have been in their cir-cumstances and with their qualities; and more than. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. 1564-1616The Chandos Portrait once his interpretation of some historical character,opposed as it was to the common belief of his time, hasbeen proved by later investigation to be correct. Then came the Merchant of Venice and a group ofcomedies, some of which have touches of boisterous IOO ENGLANDS LITERATURE [1596-1600 rant, while some are happy, romantic, and charminglyThe Mer- graceful. In the Merchant of Venice perhapsventee* quite as much as in any other play, Shake-1596? speare shows his power to make us hold a char-acter in the balance. Shylock is cruel and miserly, butwe cannot help seeing with a touch of sympathy that heis oppressed and lonely ; Bassanio is a careless youngspendthrift, but so boyish and so frank that we forgetto be severe; Portia is perfectly conscious of the valueof her wealth and her beauty, but at loves command sheis ready to drop both lightly into the hands of
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