What is it about?
In this early comedy, Shakespeare quotes and responds to Southwell's published views on the uses of poetry and piety. In so doing, Shakespeare suggests that even profane poetry is not incompatible with the demands of Christian piety, seen through the lens of an earlier form of piety, one associated with the pre-Reformation practices of the medieval Church.
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Why is it important?
First, my essay explores the dynamics of a conversation embedded in the larger context of Shakespeare's drama in which he addresses a contemporary who is an important, yet overlooked, figure of the era, and one who makes for an unlikely interlocutor for Shakespeare. Next, although others have posited some sort of interaction between Southwell and Shakespeare, my essay proposes a new and unexpected perspective on Shakespeare's possible views on the prevailing religious attitudes of his day vis-a-vis how they affected the understanding of imagination and poetic practice.
Perspectives
It was a pleasure and a challenge to delve into a hotly debated subject area, namely, Shakespeare's attitude toward Catholics and Catholic belief, without being caught up in the effort to either prove or disprove what his personal religious leanings may have been.
Dr Donald T Carlson
Trinity Valley School
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Of Lunatics, Lovers, and Poets: The Conversation about Poetry in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Ben Jonson Journal, November 2018, Edinburgh University Press,
DOI: 10.3366/bjj.2018.0224.
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