From the Archive: Harriet Monroe on Shakespeare

This month marks the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death. To celebrate this occasion, we’re re-running an article by Poetry founding editor Harriet Monroe that originally appeared 100 years ago in the magazine. In her essay, Monroe contemplates what we can learn about the man behind the plays and poems, in an attempt to describe his singular genius. As she writes in her introduction, “Everywhere he is present. … He is part of our language, of the phrasing and movement and beat of it; and when we are silent the very winds and stars march to his music.” While the past 100 years have led Shakespeare studies on different paths, Monroe’s essay—like Shakespeare’s own works—resonates today.