ABSTRACT
Walter Savage Landor, who grew up in William Shakespeare Warwickshire, was thoroughly at home in the Bardolatrous environment, and contributed his eloquence to the cause. The depth of Landor’s distaste for the conservative consensus can be measured in his most substantial writing on Shakespeare, the Bardolatry-free Citation and Examination of Shakspeare of 1834. If Edmond Malone idealized Shakespeare by rejecting the “legendary tales,” Nathan Drake idealized him by reinterpreting those same tales on the assumption that Shakespeare could never have been less than noble, wise, and gracious. Shakespeare is represented as a solitary, romantic young nature lover, a bit like William Wordsworth perhaps—tempted on occasion to release an arrow at a deer, but never without regret for the suffering caused. In his treatment of the Shakespeare-Hathaway relationship Landor develops an idea from Edward Capell, who had argued that the connection led Shakespeare into conflict with his father.
