The opening two paragraphs of Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy seem to me strikingly similar to Shakespeare's famous 'What a piece of work is a man' monologue in Hamlet. Yet I've never seen anyone take notice of this, let alone propose an influence. If it wasn't a matter of influence, then what was the common influence between them? The paragraphs in question:>Man the most excellent and noble creature of the world, “the principal and mighty work of God, wonder of Nature,” as Zoroaster calls him; audacis naturae miraculum, “the marvel of marvels,” as Plato; “the abridgment and epitome of the world,” as Pliny; microcosmus, a little world, a model of the world, sovereign lord of the earth, viceroy of the world, sole commander and governor of all the creatures in it; to whose empire they are subject in particular, and yield obedience; far surpassing all the rest, not in body only, but in soul; imaginis imago, created to God's own image, to that immortal and incorporeal substance, with all the faculties and powers belonging unto it; was at first pure, divine, perfect, happy, “created after God in true holiness and righteousness;” Deo congruens, free from all manner of infirmities, and put in Paradise, to know God, to praise and glorify him, to do his will, Ut diis consimiles parturiat deos (as an old poet saith) to propagate the church.>But this most noble creature, Heu tristis, et lachrymosa commutatio (one exclaims) O pitiful change! is fallen from that he was, and forfeited his estate, become miserabilis homuncio, a castaway, a caitiff, one of the most miserable creatures of the world, if he be considered in his own nature, an unregenerate man, and so much obscured by his fall that (some few relics excepted) he is inferior to a beast, “Man in honour that understandeth not, is like unto beasts that perish,” so David esteems him: a monster by stupend metamorphoses, a fox, a dog, a hog, what not? Quantum mutatus ab illo? How much altered from that he was; before blessed and happy, now miserable and accursed; “He must eat his meat in sorrow,” subject to death and all manner of infirmities, all kind of calamities.Just as Hamlet's monologue is on the subject of melancholy, so Burton's entire book is about melancholy, and these two paragraphs contain not only many similar images and phrases but even follow a similar progress.
This is awesome, anon. Robert Burton lived at Oxford, so it's not unlikely he was influenced by William Shakespeare. I'm pretty sure he quotes him at one point in the Anatomy of Melancholy.I love the Anatomy of Melancholy. It's so pleasant getting lost in its pages. My favorite portion is the end section on religious melancholy and despair. Robert Burton is such a friend. He would definitely frequent this board if he was alive.
>>24697225not OP, but I'm also a huge Burtonhead. i have many favourite bits (the Digression on Air for example, where he tells you about all the things he would investigate if were able to fly into the atmosphere), but one of the funniest is probably picrelated, the greatest use of a paragraph break in english literature.
>>24697238XD. The way he just randomly interjects Latin, I love it. Thank you for sharing, anon.
>>24696841He was possibly inspired by Jacques' speech in As You Like It.>I have neither the scholar's melancholy, which is emulation, nor the musician's, which is fantastical, nor the courtier's, which is proud, nor the soldier's, which is ambitious, nor the lawyer's, which is politic, nor the lady's, which is nice, nor the lover's, which is all these: but it is a melancholy of mine own, compounded of many simples, extracted from many objects, and indeed the sundry's contemplation of my travels, in which my often rumination wraps me m a most humorous sadness.
>>24697321Would be pretty amazing to discover that Robert Burton was inspired to write his book from select Shakespeare passages. Surely there must be some academic willing to scour the entire Melancholy for any evidence.
>>24698472>urton depended on his own library, which included nearly 2000 volumes—including Shakespeare’s early narrative poems, Venus and Adonis and Lucrece. To illustrate the condition of madness and melancholy derived from love, Burton quoted from a variety of literary sources, including the well-known final couplet from Romeo and Juliet. https://shakespeare.lib.uiowa.edu/item/the-anatomy-of-melancholy/
>>24698487Damn, I remember searching for something like this but found nothing. Thank you for posting it anon.
