Introducing Shakespeare: A Graphic Guide - Nick Groom, Piero 2013

The Rise of Shakespeare’s Popularity

During the Restoration, Ben Jonson was actually more highly thought of, and more often quoted, than Shakespeare. But Jonson was considered a highbrow playwright.

SHAKESPEARE HAD THE POPULAR VOTE, ESPECIALLY THROUGH ADAPTATIONS OF HIS WORKS. JOHN DRYDEN (1631-1700), WHO REWORKED ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA INTO ALL FOR LOVE (1678) ACKNOWLEDGED SHAKESPEARE’S CONSUMMATE GENIUS. AND WITH THE RISE OF THE 18TH-CENTURY MIDDLE CLASSES, SHAKESPEARE WAS TAKEN UP BY THE TATLER MAGAZINE … …WHICH PERSISTENTLY QUOTED HIM.

William Smith’s influential translation of Longinus’ On the Sublime (1739) used frequent examples from Shakespeare. Edward Young (1683-1765), in Conjectures on Original Composition (1759), argued that Jonson …

… IS AS MUCH AN IMITATOR, AS SHAKESPEARE IS AN ORIGINAL. THE TASTE IN THE 17TH CENTURY WAS FOR IMITATION. BY THE MID-18TH-CENTURY, ORIGINALITY WAS MORE HIGHLY VALUED. AND SHAKESPEARE’S FORTUNES ROSE WITH THOSE OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE.