Book Review: Life in Shakespere's England
I was thinking about writing "reviews" of the books I read. I'm not sure how long this plan will last; so far it has taken a month to actually get as far as writing the first review.... They might not be very good reviews either, and they might not tell you anything (thus why they wouldn't be very good).
The first book, here, is probably out of print and unobtainable. The book in question: Everyday Life in Elizabethan England. I think I forgot to find out the author. Maybe I wrote it down somewhere, but I have no idea where if I did.
This book covers many aspects of life in Elizabethan England, from clothes and family life to sports and theatre. The sort of things that one generally doesn't know much about. For instance, bear-baiting was popular, and many of the theatres were relegated to the same areas as the bear pits, to contain all the noisy, drunk, disruptive people, so I gather. Many structures were even duel purpose for these activities... Unfortunately, the style of writing and particular enthusiasms and passions of the author cast some doubt on the general accuracy of the content. The style seemed a little casual for this kind of book, and the patriotism the author felt towards England also came through in some places. Most of the book focused on London and city life; it's almost as if the rest of England did not exist and no one lived in the country. The author was also completely obsessed with Shakespere; I'm surprised the book was not called "Everyday Life in Shakespearean England". Many examples of everyday life were related back to Shakespere's life, or what MIGHT have happened, if Shakespere had been in a particular situation. Shakespere's friends and relatives were also referred to to provide examples of what people did, or might have done. Similarly, all times and timeframes referred to Shakespere's life, rather than to the reign of monarchs, or the number of the year. For example, events occurred: before Shakespere's birth, after his death, whilst he was a young man, just after he was born, for the duration of his life. Events also declined or gained in popularity during the time frame of his life. The content of his plays, and the number of times various topics were referenced, was also used, dubiously, to indicate Shakespere's level of knowledge on topics such as archery, fishing and bear baiting, and also to judge the general popularity of activities amongst the people of the time. I was going to go through and count how many times Shakespere was mentioned, but then I couldn't be bothered. It could be that Queen Elizabeth was mentioned less than half a dozen times however.
There were a lot of pictures of paintings, carvings and so on from the time, which was great - one or more picture per page. Art is a good source of information about a period of time (being wary of artistic license and what was chosen to be represented) and thus it is good to get to see these resources for yourself. It is always frustrating, also, to be reading a text which refers to visual things but does not show them to you.
Overall I found it an interesting book for the purposes of general introduction to this period of time - the period of time apparently defined by Shakespere's birth and death - but I'm not sure how much of it was absolutely correct, or how much of it was properly researched and cross-referenced with other sources. Perhaps it was completely accurate, but the odd tone and lack of professionalism does not recommend it in this sense. I imagine the gist of each topic was true, but I wouldn't depend on the details.
The first book, here, is probably out of print and unobtainable. The book in question: Everyday Life in Elizabethan England. I think I forgot to find out the author. Maybe I wrote it down somewhere, but I have no idea where if I did.
This book covers many aspects of life in Elizabethan England, from clothes and family life to sports and theatre. The sort of things that one generally doesn't know much about. For instance, bear-baiting was popular, and many of the theatres were relegated to the same areas as the bear pits, to contain all the noisy, drunk, disruptive people, so I gather. Many structures were even duel purpose for these activities... Unfortunately, the style of writing and particular enthusiasms and passions of the author cast some doubt on the general accuracy of the content. The style seemed a little casual for this kind of book, and the patriotism the author felt towards England also came through in some places. Most of the book focused on London and city life; it's almost as if the rest of England did not exist and no one lived in the country. The author was also completely obsessed with Shakespere; I'm surprised the book was not called "Everyday Life in Shakespearean England". Many examples of everyday life were related back to Shakespere's life, or what MIGHT have happened, if Shakespere had been in a particular situation. Shakespere's friends and relatives were also referred to to provide examples of what people did, or might have done. Similarly, all times and timeframes referred to Shakespere's life, rather than to the reign of monarchs, or the number of the year. For example, events occurred: before Shakespere's birth, after his death, whilst he was a young man, just after he was born, for the duration of his life. Events also declined or gained in popularity during the time frame of his life. The content of his plays, and the number of times various topics were referenced, was also used, dubiously, to indicate Shakespere's level of knowledge on topics such as archery, fishing and bear baiting, and also to judge the general popularity of activities amongst the people of the time. I was going to go through and count how many times Shakespere was mentioned, but then I couldn't be bothered. It could be that Queen Elizabeth was mentioned less than half a dozen times however.
There were a lot of pictures of paintings, carvings and so on from the time, which was great - one or more picture per page. Art is a good source of information about a period of time (being wary of artistic license and what was chosen to be represented) and thus it is good to get to see these resources for yourself. It is always frustrating, also, to be reading a text which refers to visual things but does not show them to you.
Overall I found it an interesting book for the purposes of general introduction to this period of time - the period of time apparently defined by Shakespere's birth and death - but I'm not sure how much of it was absolutely correct, or how much of it was properly researched and cross-referenced with other sources. Perhaps it was completely accurate, but the odd tone and lack of professionalism does not recommend it in this sense. I imagine the gist of each topic was true, but I wouldn't depend on the details.
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