Monday, June 15, 2015

Love, to the Elizabethans

"Love for the Elizabethans was not simply a personal emotion, not simply a personal emotion, or a family tie. It was the glue of the whole universe. The order of society, the coherence of nature, the movements of the heavens themselves were thought of as being sustained by love, or a power analogous to love. God is love according to Saint John. And love, according to Dante, is the power that moves the sun and the stars."

- Peter Saccio, professor of English, Dartmouth, in the context of explaining fairies in Shakespeare, specifically, the role of the spirits (fairies) of love, in the play, A Midsummer Night's Dream. The Elizabethan era was 1558-1603.