Poems Are Difficult To Silence.

But If Shakespeare Himself Is Maybe About Meaning And Truth, I Don't Know, Then He Is Certainly About Pleasure And Interest, We Start With Pleasure And Interest, But Maybe Eventually It Gets To Meaning And Truth.

Writing Is A Performance, Like Singing An Aria Or Dancing A Jig

Literate Households In The 17th Century Would Have Had The Bible, John Bunyan's "the Pilgrim's Progress," And A Couple Of Other Books. Shakespeare Plays Were Cheap, So You Could Buy Those, But A Folio Cost A Pound, Which Was An Incredible Amount Of Money Then.

In Short, It Became Possible - Never Easy, But Possible - In The Poet Auden's Phrase To Find The Mortal World Enough.

I Have Lots Of Things That Aren't So Old That I Value, Such As A Copy Of Allen Ginsberg's "howl," Which He Signed For Me.