Folk-lore of Shakespeare

Folk-lore of Shakespeare is a book by Thomas Firminger Thiselton-Dyer, first published in 1883. It is a comprehensive Victorian study that traces the folk beliefs, superstitions, and popular customs echoed throughout Shakespeare’s plays and poems, examining topics ranging from fairies and witches to omens, ghosts, plant-lore, and rural customs.

Thiselton-Dyer places Shakespeare firmly in the living cultural world of Elizabethan and Jacobean England, explaining obscure references and proverbial language by connecting them to contemporary oral tradition and customary practice. The book has long been used by students and readers seeking cultural and historical context for Shakespeare’s imagery and vocabulary, and remains a valuable reference for anyone researching Elizabethan superstition, popular belief, or the folkloric background of specific passages.