Lyric Poetry in Shakespeare's Plays
A collection of essays edited by Lukas Erne, Charlotte Potter, and Andy Reilly, in preparation, under contract with Oxford University Press.
This collection of essays proposes a conception of Shakespeare that starts with neither the plays nor the poems, but rather the poetry, of which Shakespeare wrote mainly three kinds: dramatic, narrative, and lyric. Our focus is on the lyric poetry, which finds its fullest expression in the Sonnets but pervades his works as a whole, including his dramatic works. Shakespeare’s plays contain not only many highly poetic passages but also a considerable number of formally distinct poems and songs. This collection examines Shakespeare’s lyric poetry in his drama, as well as continuities and discontinuities between his lyric poetry in the plays and the poems, in particular the Sonnets. It innovates by moving the centre of attention to Shakespeare as a writer of lyric poetry not only in the Sonnets but also in his dramatic works.