Shakespeare’s Common Prayers by Daniel Swift

William Shakespeare’s plays have abundant evidence of the influences on the man behind the words. Shakespeare obviously was familiar with the world and especially human nature. I’ve read that he did not get some geographic facts correct, but in general, he seems to have been pretty well rounded. Just read a play and you can see it! I’ve often read commentary on how various concepts appear in his plays. But I never before considered the impact of The Book of Common Prayer on his plays.

Shakespeare’s Common Prayers by Daniel Swift (Oxford University Press, 2012) is a deep examination of how The Book of Common Prayer impacts the phrases and themes in Shakespeare’s plays. Mr Swift takes a few of Shakespeare’s plays almost line by line in examining the impact that the liturgy of the Church of England may have had on the playwright. Reading his examination made me think, “Wow! Why didn’t we notice this before?” (more…)