Abstract

When Whalley moves beyond his normal range of expertise, as in the essay “Jane Austen: Poet,” it is clear that he could have done so more frequently—and with particular relevance to the study of Shakespeare. Austen, he argues, is a poet in two important senses: in her “craftsmanship in language” and in her “conduct of the action.” How he would have viewed the relation of Shakespeare’s action and his language may be deduced from his Austen essay, from his translation of Aristotle’s Poetics, and from its spin-off, “The Aristotle-Coleridge Axis.” His striking combination of principles from Aristotle and Coleridge generates a unique approach to Shakespeare.