Oh. So I'm not the only one who cares

I got a response from the English professor! His name is Adam Hansen and he's a senior lecturer in English at Northunmbria University. When I opened my e-mail this morning he had responded to all of my questions - some responses were more helpful than others, but something that particularly stood out to me was, "Having spoken to writers and musicians, for the Shakespeare book and since, I think they all see constraints as liberating. Constraints focus the artist’s (and the audience’s) attention." He went on to explain/defend himself which was fabulous because what he was saying fit in directly with my tentative thesis (time is simultaneously constraining and liberating). It was really exciting to see how interested he was in what I was doing.

I also was thinking about how heavy use of rhythm in The Winter's Tale would be a manifestation of time in the work, so I went through all the songs in the play and a couple of my favorite scenes looking for alliteration, repetition,rhyme, and use of iambic pentameter (all elements that contribute to giving the writing a beat/pulse.) I found a ton, for example in one of the songs Autokycus sings, "pins, and poking stick of steel/ What maids lack from head to heel,/Come buy of me, come! Come buy! Come buy!"(4.4.227-30). This example incorporates alliteration, repetition, and rhyme. Of course, that's only a cursory look at devices in the primary text, but it's a start!