ProV Logo
0

Free

Folk-lore of Shakespeare by Thiselton-Dyer, T. F. (Thomas Firminger) ( Author )
Lemonjar
N.A
01-01-1883
Click "free sample" to read the whole book no need to purchase. The book handles three basic areas: supernatural beings, such as ghosts and witches; natural history; and social matters, such as rituals and children’s games. The level of detail is astounding, and Thistelton Dyer is especially adept at cross-referencing topics. For example, he will quote from other contemporary writers, such as Spenser, Jonson and Middleton, as well as subject specialists. Consider one of Hamlet’s more obscure comments to the king’s spies, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Hamlet. I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw. Most Shakespeare collections gloss this simply by saying that “handsaw” is possibly a corruption of “hernshaw”, meaning a heron. That helps only so much. Here is Thistelton Dyer’s approach in his chapter on birds. Heron. This bird was frequently flown at by falconers. . . handsaw being a corruption of “heronshaw” or “hernsew”, which is still used, in the provincial dialects, for a heron. In Suffolk and Norfolk, it is pronounced “harnsa”, from which to “handsaw” is but a single step. Shakespeare here alludes to a proverbial saying, “He knows not a hawk from a handsaw”. Mr J C Heath explains the passage thus: Most birds, especially one of heavy flight like the heron, when roused by the falconer or his dog, would fly down or with the wind, in order to escape. When the wind is from the north the heron flies towards the south, and the spectator may be dazzled by the sun, and be unable to distinguish the hawk from the heron. On the other hand, when the wind is southerly the heron flies towards the north, and it and the pursuing hawk are clearly seen by the sportsman, who then has his back to the sun and without difficulty knows the hawk from the hernsew. --Folk-lore of Shakespeare, T F Thistelton Dyer (1883) The overall impression is of an informed amateur talking to other Shakespeare lovers about a topic that interests them both. It has none of the didactic psychobabble that makes modern books about Shakespeare dry and indigestible.
230721219
Book
epub
1,186.34 KB
English
Language and Literature
MYR 0.01
1
-
Share this eBook