. William Shakespeare; poet, dramatist, and man . rst-handknowledge of the localities described. It must beremembered, too, that the poet had immense capa-city for assimilating knowledge and making it hisown ; that a social or moral fact was as full of sug-gestion to him as a bone to a naturalist; that helived with men whose acquaintance with other coun-tries he was constantly drawing upon to enlarge hisown information; and that he had access to bookswhich gave the freshest and most vivid descriptionsof Italian scenery, cities, and manners. Many of thestriking and accurate descriptions of loca
. William Shakespeare; poet, dramatist, and man . rst-handknowledge of the localities described. It must beremembered, too, that the poet had immense capa-city for assimilating knowledge and making it hisown ; that a social or moral fact was as full of sug-gestion to him as a bone to a naturalist; that helived with men whose acquaintance with other coun-tries he was constantly drawing upon to enlarge hisown information; and that he had access to bookswhich gave the freshest and most vivid descriptionsof Italian scenery, cities, and manners. Many of thestriking and accurate descriptions of localities to befound in literature were written by men who neverset foot in the countries with which they seem toshow the utmost familiarity. One of the mostcharming of American pastorals describes, with com-plete accuracy of detail as well as with the truestfeeling for atmospheric effect, a landscape whichthe poet never saw. On a fortunate day he broughtinto his library a man who knew no other countryso well. He faced his visitor to the north. You. THE BLACK BUST OF a plaster cast of the original terra-cotta bust owned by the Garrick Club, London. 124 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE are now, he said, standing by the blacksmithsforge and looking to the north: tell me everythingyou see. The visitor closed his eyes and describedwith loving minuteness a country with which hehad been intimate all his conscious life. When hehad finished, he was turned successively to thewest, the south, and the east, until his graphic visionhad surveyed and reported the distant and beautifulworld which was to furnish the background for thepoem. The process and the result are incompre-hensible to critics and students who are devoid ofimagination, but perfectly credible to all who under-stand that such an imagination as Shakespeare pos-sessed carries with it the power of seeing with theeyes not only of the living but even of the dead. Shakespeare may have visited Italy during thewinter of 1592 or th
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectshakesp, bookyear1901
