{"product_id":"the-ghost-behind-the-masks-w-david-shaw-9780813935447","title":"The Ghost Behind the Masks: The Victorian Poets and Shakespeare","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eThe Ghost behind the Masks, \u003c\/i\u003e W. David Shaw traces Shakespeare's influence on nine Victorian poets: Alfred Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, Christina Rossetti, Thomas Hardy, Matthew Arnold, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Algernon Swinburne, Arthur Hugh Clough, and George Meredith. Often, he writes, the transparency of Shakespeare's influence on Victorian poets and the degree of their engagement with Shakespeare exist in inverse ratio. Instead of imitating a play by Shakespeare or merely quoting his lines, a Victorian poet may embrace more elusive elements of rhetoric and style, adapting them to his or her own ends. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eShaw argues that the most Shakespearean attribute of the Victorian poets is not their addiction to any particular trope or figure of speech but their reticence, the classical restraint of their great monologues, and their sudden descent from grandeur to simplicity. He explores such topics as man-made law versus natural right, Stoic fatalism versus self-reliance, and the sanity of lunatics, lovers, and poets versus the madness of commonplace minds.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e W. David Shaw\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 081393544X\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780813935447\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Virginia Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/02\/2014\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 296\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.25lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.77h x 6.42w x 0.87d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/01\/2015","brand":"W. David Shaw","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44120312578303,"sku":"9780813935447","price":39.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_c8bb6ed9-95f6-46ee-8344-87c3722e58e0.jpg?v=1687413647","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-ghost-behind-the-masks-w-david-shaw-9780813935447","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}