THE ELIZABETHAN FAIRIES

INTRODUCTION 11
2. Shakespeare's conception of the fairies was adopted
by many of the poets of his time and has, " through them
. . . become traditional in English poetry and English
art." 40
3. Thanks to Shakespeare, " the modern English con-
ception of the fairies is different from the conception
prevalent in other countries, and infinitely more pictur-
esque and pleasant." 41
4. However Shakespeare modified the characteristics
of the fairies of popular mythology, the traditional fairies
of 16th century England were, in their original state,
diminutive in size or small and distinguished by a certain
amiabilit~.~~
This present study of the Elizabethan fairies has for
its purpose the further examination of popular fairy my-
40 Ibid., p. 149. Cf. also Nutt, Fairy Myth. of Eng. Lit., p. 31:
" Scarce any one of Shakespeare's plays has had a literary influence so
immediate, so widespread, and so enduring. As pictured by Shake-
speare, the fairy realm became, almost at once, a convention of litera-
ture in which numberless poets sought inspiration and material. I
need only mention Drayton, Ben Jonson, Herrick, Randolph, and
Milton himself. Apart from any question of its relation to popular
belief, of any grounding in popular fancy, Shakespeare's vision stood
by itself, and was accepted as the ideal presentment of fairydom,
which, for two centuries at least, has signified to the average English-
man of culture the world depicted in the Midsummer Night's Dream."
41 Sidgwick, Sources and Analogues, p. 35.
42 John Masefield in his lecture, Shakespeare and Spiritual Life, of
1924, has called attention to the fact that the fairies of English tra-
dition were large enough to pinch Falstaff and attend the fairy court
in the woods near Athens. He has also noted the difference between
the dispositions of the fairies of A Midsummer Night's Dream and
those of popular English tradition. The former were not wild
enough, nor unearthly, nor malicious enough to be folk fairies. Mr.
Masefield seems to have arrived at his conclusions by poetic intuition
and familiarity with modern folk belief, since he adduces no proof for
his statements.