v. 1. Introduction. The Elizabethan writers--the formal side of poetry. The supernatural in early English and in Shakspere: Address of the soul to the dead body compared with Hamlet. Nature in early English and in Shakspere: Beowulf and Midsummer night's dream. Some birds of English poetry: the phoenix of Cynewulf and of Shakspere, and the Twa dows. Women of English poetry down to Shakspere: St. Juliana and Love's labour's lost. The wife in Middle English poetry. The sonnet-makers from Surrey in Shakspere (1) Place of the sonnet in poetry. (2) Tottel's Miscellany and William Drummond of Hawthornden. (3) Daniel, Sylvester, Constable and Habington. (4) Sidney's and Shakspere's sonnets. Pronunciation of Shakspere's time: with illustrations from The two gentlemen of Verona.--v. 2. The music of Shakspere's time. The domestic life of Shakspere's time. The doctors of Shakspere's time. The metrical tests. Man's relations to the supernatural as shown in Midsummer night's dream, Hamlet, and the Tempest. Man's relation to nature as shown in Midsummer night's dream, Hamlet, and the Tempest, and Conclusion