Shakespearean Tragedy

"A.C. Bradley put Shakespeare on the map for generations of readers and students for whom the plays might not otherwise have become 'real' at all" writes John Bayley.

Bradley's lectures are probably the most influential single work of Shakespearean criticism ever published. All his published work was originally delivered in the form of lectures. Bradley's pedagogical manner and his self-confidence made him a real guide for many students to the meaning of Shakespeare. His influence on Shakespearean criticism was so great that the following poem, by Guy Boas, Lays of Learning, 1926, appeared:

I dreamt last night that Shakespeare’s Ghost
Sat for a civil service post.
The English paper for that year
Had several questions on King Lear
Which Shakespeare answered very badly
Because he hadn’t read his Bradley.
(Hawkes 1986 as cited in Taylor 2001: 46)