Shakespeare’s Trees

The English oak, the cedars of Lebanon, Ophelia’s willow, Cleopatra’s fig: trees are a living presence in Shakespeare’s landscapes and his imagination. From stage props to metaphors, and from the familiar to the mythical, trees connect Shakespeare and audiences across time to his physical and mental environment. In this book, the Forest of Arden, the wood outside Athens, Justice Shallow’s orchard or the moving wood of Birnam in Macbeth are situated in the fascinating historical contexts of elite game parks, the timber economy, forestry, fruit-growing, ownership and stewardship. The great ‘wooden O’ of Shakespeare’s theatre is itself part of a city reliant on timber and an increasingly industrial and consumerist society. In exploring the place of trees in Shakespeare’s imagination and Tudor England the authors uncover Elizabethan concerns – wood shortages, deforestation, environmental degradation – which resonate powerfully with our times. This beautifully illustrated book celebrates and unpacks the wideranging associations – poetic, historical, horticultural, folkloric and scientific – of Shakespeare’s trees.