Emma Smith
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oldfortunatus.bsky.social
Emma Smith
@oldfortunatus.bsky.social
1.9K followers 1.3K following 200 posts
Professor of Shakespeare Studies, University of Oxford
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Reposted by Emma Smith
starcrossed2018.bsky.social
Fortinbras: no words... EXEUNT. FINIS. THE END.
www.english.cam.ac.uk/research/slo...
And so it ends... Branagh carried off, and in his coffin in the 1996 film; Andrew Scott in a publicity image for the Almeida production in 2017.
A colour still from a film: a young man wearing a white singlet with black straps, his arms bare, is being carried on the shoulders of soldiers with bare heads, wearing grey greatcoats. HIs arms are outstretched and his head is hanging down. There are similarly dressed soldiers forming a guard of honour, with rifles in their hands. A still from a film. A young man with blond hair and a moustache is lying with his eyes closed in a pale satin-lined coffin, set on snowy ground. He is wearing elaborate black military-style uniform and has a sword held in his hands. A colour publicity image for a play. A young man with dark hair, wearing a black top with a colourful image of flowers on the front, is lying in what looks like a white-satin-lined coffin. His eyes are open and he is staring up. There are white gladioli lying on his torso and white gypsophila on the coffin. It's lit in blue and looks slightly surreal.
November 9, 2025 at 11:44 AM
oldfortunatus.bsky.social
Senior Librarian role in Oxford👇 www.asc.ox.ac.uk/fellow-libra...
Fellow Librarian | All Souls College
www.asc.ox.ac.uk
November 10, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Reposted by Emma Smith
alanjstedman.bsky.social
One for the bibliophiles out there

This painting was flagged up in a book I am reading atm (Portable Magic @oldfortunatus.bsky.social ) and whilst I'm pretty sure I have seen it before it hadn't really lodged in my memory

I give you Giuseppe Arcimboldo's c 1566 painting, The Librarian
Painting by Giuseppe Arcimboldo dated c 1566 It shows what is clearly a head and torso of a man but all constructed using books including a fanned open book representing his hair and two large books cleverly positioned to represent his upper and lower right arm. The lower book is bent across his body and has thon bookmarks hanging from it to represent the fingers on his hand
November 8, 2025 at 7:13 AM
Reposted by Emma Smith
naomialderman.bsky.social
I probably shouldn't tell anyone this but apparently it's Fountain Pen Day on Friday and Cult Pens has 10% off all week to celebrate:
cultpens.com/collections/...
Fountain Pen Day | Cult Pens
Fountain Pen Day - in stock now for fast UK and worldwide shipping.
cultpens.com
November 6, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Reposted by Emma Smith
bkadams.bsky.social
Major in Africana Studies or any humanities course like English Literature! You could be mayor of New York City. You could do anything.
November 5, 2025 at 4:49 AM
Reposted by Emma Smith
publicdomainrev.bsky.social
Paddleboarding witch, 1643.

Featured in Jon Crabb's essay "Woodcuts and Witches" about the witch craze of early modern Europe, and how the concurrent rise of the mass-produced woodcut helped forge the archetype of the broom-riding crone so familiar today publicdomainreview.org/essay/w...
October 31, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Reposted by Emma Smith
laurenworking.bsky.social
The ’king’ & ‘queen’ travelled along the Thames on golden leopards, and ’Indian pages’ carried ingots of silver and gold. This spectacle exhibited stereotypes about the Americas, but also, perhaps, a knowledge of the longstanding metalworking traditions of peoples including the Incas and Muiscas.
October 29, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Reposted by Emma Smith
laurenworking.bsky.social
On this day in 1611 — days before the first recorded performance of Shakespeare’s Tempest — the inauguration of a new Lord Mayor of London involved an elaborate pageant featuring English subjects dressed up as Indigenous Americans ‘from the rich and Golden Indian mines’. #goldenworld
October 29, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Reposted by Emma Smith
drsurekhadavies.bsky.social
Image: Program for The Tempest, Shakespeare Tercentenary Celebration, New York, 1916. The cover shows Caliban. Program Collection, Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, DC. 4/
A humanlike figure viewed from behind wears a skin and looks over his shoulder. The caption, in an angular, jazz-age font, reads, “Caliban Shakespeare Tercentenary Celebration.”
October 25, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Reposted by Emma Smith
starcrossed2018.bsky.social
I saw one of the final previews @the-rsc.bsky.social at the weekend & concur; it made terrifying sense as a world, I LOVED what it did with the priest, the SPACE, & Lia Williams is astonishing. Whole run sold out, can we have a transfer as a little treat?
www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/o...
Macbeth review – a terrifying lock-in with bloodied, boozed-up gangsters
Daniel Raggett’s audacious RSC production sets the play in a Glaswegian pub full of thugs and has a Landlady Macbeth running the show
www.theguardian.com
October 22, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Reposted by Emma Smith
engfac.bsky.social
Our OWC/English Faculty #Shakespeare webinar series continues! Next up, Henry VIII on 3 Nov at 6pm.

Join @oldfortunatus.bsky.social and @laurajaynewright.bsky.social to explore the play & how we might approach it differently in the twenty-first century.

All welcome! FREE but registration required
English Faculty/OWC Shakespeare Webinar: King Henry VIII
In this free webinar, Professor Emma Smith will be discussing the new edition of King Henry VIII from Oxford World's Classics.
shakespeare-webinar-king-henry-viii.eventbrite.co.uk
October 20, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Reposted by Emma Smith
simonpegg.bsky.social
"Parking is such sweet sorrow"
October 19, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Reposted by Emma Smith
starcrossed2018.bsky.social
I don't like linking to wretched Am*z*n but a sample of my book has just appeared (most of the introduction, it looks like, and the plates!) and, well, I hope you like it. Proper publication next month. EEEEEK.
www.amazon.co.uk/Textile-Shak...
Textile Shakespeare
Buy Textile Shakespeare by Lees-Jeffries, Hester (ISBN: 9780198861133) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.
www.amazon.co.uk
October 17, 2025 at 3:05 PM
oldfortunatus.bsky.social
How long can the C of E continue its privileges as the established church? www.reuters.com/world/uk/chu...
www.reuters.com
October 17, 2025 at 7:35 AM
Reposted by Emma Smith
roaringgirle.bsky.social
a tiny bit of good news is that we have secured funding to digitize john milton's copy of holinshed's CHRONICLES (1587).

the images will form part of MILTON'S LIBRARY, an open-access site featuring the 10 books positively identified as milton's w/ transcriptions/translations of his marginal notes.
A close-up image of a handwritten note in a sixteenth-century book. The note reads: 'Spenser repor / teth otherwise / [o]f this Knight / [D]ialogue of Ire- / [la]nd / [p]. 76.
October 14, 2025 at 7:27 PM
oldfortunatus.bsky.social
Do join me and @callanid.bsky.social to talk buck baskets, feisty wives and small town Tudor life👇
October 4, 2025 at 9:31 AM
Reposted by Emma Smith
questingvole.bsky.social
Really enjoyed talking to Philippa Gregory about Cromwell, Tudor slang, historical fiction and tyranny for the new podcast
Philippa Gregory: Boleyn Traitor
Sam Leith's guest on this week's Book Club podcast is the historical novelist Philippa Gregory. In her gripping new book Boleyn Traitor, Philippa seeks to rescue Jane Boleyn from the vast condescensio...
www.spectator.co.uk
October 1, 2025 at 10:08 AM
Reposted by Emma Smith
jntod.bsky.social
Will is one of the best people I know to talk to about poetry: £20 for 2 hours of his time is a bargain
October 1, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Reposted by Emma Smith
thetls.bsky.social
'This glamorous Life writing began early. Weeks before Marlowe’s untimely and violent death, a shady intelligencer called Richard Baines had drafted the outline of the playwright’s afterlife'

Emma Smith: Our ideas of Christopher Marlowe
Early modern autofiction?
www.the-tls.com
September 27, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Reposted by Emma Smith
lrb.co.uk
At @londonreviewbookshop.co.uk on Tuesday: Fiona Stafford speaks to Jenny Uglow about her new book, A Year with Gilbert White, which chronicles the work of the Hampshire clergyman who became the father of British natural history.

Just a few tickets are left:
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/jenny-uglo...
September 27, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Reposted by Emma Smith
mathewlyons.bsky.social
Here's a film of his long, searing 1980s poem V. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu3Z...
Tony Harrison V (Richard Eyre)
YouTube video by Pablo Rodri
www.youtube.com
September 27, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Reposted by Emma Smith
engfac.bsky.social
Our #Shakespeare webinar series continues! Join us on 6 Oct at 6pm to delve into the new OWC edition of The Merry Wives of Windsor with @oldfortunatus.bsky.social &
@callanjd.bsky.social

All welcome! Register now via Eventbrite & you will be sent a Zoom link before the event. #teamenglish
English Faculty/OWC Shakespeare Webinar: The Merry Wives of Windsor
In this free webinar, Professor Emma Smith will be discussing the new edition of The Merry Wives of Windsor from Oxford World's Classics.
shakespeare-webinar-merry-wives.eventbrite.co.uk
September 22, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Reposted by Emma Smith
drsheeha.bsky.social
Look who has a gorgeous cover now!! Arden of Faversham introduced by moi will be published as part of the Oxford World’s Classics series in April 2026.

Look at that cover! ❤️❤️🔥

Publication date is 9 April 2026. You can pre-order your copy here: global.oup.com/ukhe/product...
September 22, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Reposted by Emma Smith
jntod.bsky.social
'And that underlying rhythm probably sounds quite familiar: it’s like a heartbeat. Shakespeare loved iambic pentameter because it sounds very close to natural, heart-felt speech': argh, this kind of thing (from Shakespeare's Globe website) drives me mad: someflowerssoon.substack.com/p/10-reasons...
10 Reasons Why the Iambic Pentameter is Not Like the Human Heartbeat
On an idea about poetry that needs to die
someflowerssoon.substack.com
September 18, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Reposted by Emma Smith
regretteruane.bsky.social
Last of a recent brilliant bundle of Puffin Post magazines.
Part of my pleasure in collecting them is sharing them here & seeing others enjoy them too.
Another glorious Jill McDonald illustration & a bright reminder that spring light always returns, as autumn dampens the air & lengthens the shadows
Cover of a 1971 puffin post magazine with colourful cartoon illustration of a giant puffin head with a ladybird mooching along their beak, emerging from a green hedge looking up at cherry blossoms and insects, including a bee, a red admiral butterfly and something that looks like a kind of pink tea fish with lots of legs and wings flitting about above in a bright blue sky. In the top right corner, the title puffin post is hand lettered in hot pink psychedelic script
September 16, 2025 at 1:06 PM