William Shakespeare; poet, dramatist, and man . ern readers. There is THE FIRST FRUITS 169 in it a preponderance of the local and a minimumof the universal elements. But Shakespeare could not satirize the extrava-gances and follies of his time without suggestingthe larger view of life which was always in histhought; he could not touch the smallest detailof manners without bringing the man into this early andsportive work, withits incessant andoften metallic fenceof words, the youngpoet disclosed hisresolute grasp ofthe realities of lifeas opposed to pass-ing theories andindividual expe
William Shakespeare; poet, dramatist, and man . ern readers. There is THE FIRST FRUITS 169 in it a preponderance of the local and a minimumof the universal elements. But Shakespeare could not satirize the extrava-gances and follies of his time without suggestingthe larger view of life which was always in histhought; he could not touch the smallest detailof manners without bringing the man into this early andsportive work, withits incessant andoften metallic fenceof words, the youngpoet disclosed hisresolute grasp ofthe realities of lifeas opposed to pass-ing theories andindividual experi-ments. The arti-ficial asceticism towhich the Kingcommits himselfand his court, withits fasts, vigils, studies, and exclusion of women, is agay but futile attempt to interfere with normal hu-man emotions, needs, and habits; it breaks downunder the first strain to which it is subjected, and isdriven out of beclouded minds with the gayest ofwomanly laughter and the keenest of womanly satire of the play assails false ideas of the place. THOMAS an early pen drawing. lyo WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE of knowledge, false uses of speech, and false con-ceptions of life; it discloses the mind of the poetalready at work on the problem which engaged himduring the whole of his productive life, and in theworking out of which all the plays are involved:the problem of the right relation of the individualto the moral order, to the family, and to the breadth of view and sanity of temper whichare at once the most striking characteristics ofShakespeares mind and the secret of the realityand rans^e of his art find in Loves Labours Lost their earliest illustration. And in this play are tobe found also the earliest examples of his free andexpressive character-drawing; for Biron and Rosa-line are preliminary studies for Benedict and Bea-trice ; the play of wit throughout the drama predicts Much Ado About Nothing ; the love-making ofArmado and Jaquenetta is the earliest example o
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectshakesp, bookyear1901
