Shakespeare & Early Modern Proverbial Culture

This conference explores the prevalence, functions, and cultural significance of proverbs and proverbial wisdom in early modern literature and society. Proverbs saturated the everyday speech of early modern England and appear across a wide range of written forms. Yet, despite their centrality to early modern linguistic and literary practice, proverbs have received surprisingly little sustained critical attention. This major conference aims to reinvigorate scholarly interest in proverbial language and to open new conversations about its interpretive possibilities.

Bringing together researchers from diverse disciplines and methodological backgrounds, the conference seeks to develop new frameworks for studying proverbs and popular wisdom through multidisciplinary perspectives. How did proverbial language shape everyday, learned, and literary discourses in the period? In what ways did early modern authors draw creatively on proverbial forms? How were proverbs collected, transmitted, translated, and adapted across languages and cultures? How have phrases used by early modern writers – especially Shakespeare – become ‘proverbial’ through their textual and oral afterlives?

Plenary speakers will include:
Laura Estill (St Francis Xavier University)
Andrew Hui (National University of Singapore)
Jennifer Richards (University of Cambridge)
Neil Rhodes (University of St Andrews)

Programme

---

The conference programme will be available shortly.

The provisional timings of the conference are as follows: registration will begin at 4pm on Wednesday 1st July. The conference will commence at 5pm. It will conclude after lunch (2pm) on Friday 3rd July. 

Travel and further information

---

If you need any detailed information, please contact the conference organisers. The following information is correct at time of printing but please check independently as we cannot take responsibility for any changes. Travel and accommodation are to be organised independently by delegates.

Where is the conference?

The conference venue is the Brynmor Jones Library located on the main campus of the University of Hull. The building is set back from the road with a circular driveway in front. It is situated on Cottingham Road, next to the main entrance to the University of Hull.

Directions to the University and a campus map can be found here:

https://www.hull.ac.uk/about/how-to-find-us

Hull is about 200 miles north-east from London and 100 miles from Manchester. It is about an hour’s drive from York or Leeds. It should be possible to arrange car parking for conference delegates on campus.

Travel by train will take you to Hull Paragon train station in the centre of the city. There are usually taxis waiting right outside the station and it would take about 10-15 minutes to get to the conference venue if traffic is clear and should cost around £8.

For train times and tickets see:

www.thetrainline.com

The following buses will take you from Hull Paragon station to the University campus: 5, 45, 104. The 45 is the most direct, and stops on Cottingham Road immediately opposite the campus. The 5 and the 104 stop on Cranbrook Avenue, on the east side of the campus. 

If travelling by air, you could arrive at a number of different airports and then travel by train. The nearest airport is Humberside. For further information see

https://www.humbersideairport.com/

It is also possible to fly to Manchester Airport and then catch a train to Hull (usually with one change at Manchester or Leeds). If travelling by sea, ferries are available from Rotterdam and Zeebrugge.