From Shakespeare's "green-eyed monster" to the "green thought in a green
shade" in Andrew Marvell's "The Garden," the color green was curiously
prominent and resonant in English culture of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries. Among other things, green was the most common
color of household goods, the recommended wall color against which to
view paintings, the hue that was supposed to appear in alchemical
processes at the moment base metal turned to gold, and the color most
frequently associated with human passions of all sorts. A unique
cultural history, The Key of Green considers the significance of the
color in the literature, visual arts, and popular culture of early
modern England.
Contending that color is a matter of both sensation and emotion, Bruce
R. Smith examines Renaissance material culture--including tapestries,
clothing, and stonework, among others--as well as music, theater,
philosophy, and nature through the lens of sense perception and
aesthetic pleasure. At the same time, Smith offers a highly
sophisticated meditation on the nature of consciousness, perception, and
emotion that will resonate with students and scholars of the early
modern period and beyond. Like the key to a map, The Key of Green
provides a guide for looking, listening, reading, and thinking that
restores the aesthetic considerations to criticism that have been
missing for too long.
