w. h. auden, 1947: "there is a continual process of simplification in shakespeare's plays. what is he up to? he is holding the mirror up to nature. in the early minor sonnets he talks about his works outlasting time. but increasingly he suggests, as theseus does in "a midsummer night's dream", that "the best in this kind are but shadows" (v.i.214), that art is rather a bore. ... i find shakespeare particularly appealing in his attitude towards his work. there's something a little irritating in the determination of the very greatest artists, like dante, joyce, milton, to create masterpieces and to think themselves important. to be able to devote one's life to art without forgetting that art is frivolous is a tremendous achievement of personal character. shakespeare never takes himself too seriously." "lectures on shakespeare" (ed. by arthur kirsch)