When daisies pied, and violets blue,
And lady-smocks all silver-white,
And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue
Do paint the meadows with delight,
The cuckoo then, on every tree,
Mocks married men, for thus sings he:
'Cuckoo!
Cuckoo, cuckoo!' O word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear.
When shepherds pipe on oaten straws,
And merry larks are ploughmen's clocks,
When turtles tread, and rooks, and daws,
And maidens bleach their summer smocks,
The cuckoo then, on every tree,
Mocks married men, for thus sings he:
'Cuckoo!
Cuckoo, cuckoo!' O word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear.

—William Shakespeare, "Song: Spring" from Love's Labour Lost

More Than a Play of Fancy
Spirit in the Works of William Shakespeare
Willem Frederik Veltman

The undisputed virtuosity of William Shakespeare’s theatrical works—and their perennial relationship to the experience of being human—assures their continued importance in the cultural life of the twenty-first century. However, Shakespeare is a subject of interest beyond the theater; his life and work remain among the foremost themes of literary and historical scholarship.
Using seven of his most loved and performed plays as examples, Willem Frederik Veltman uncovers the spiritual reality that hides—in full view, as an open secret—in Shakespeare’s world of images.
This exciting study looks at The Merchant of Venice; A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Macbeth; Hamlet; As You Like It; The Winter’s Tale; and The Tempest. READ MORE

Also by Willem Frederik Veltman

Who Wrote Bacon?
William Shakespeare, Francis Bacon, and James I
Richard Ramsbotham

For years, a popular debate has been raging about whether Shakespeare was really the author of the many plays and poems published under his name. Doubters argue that Shakespeare could not have accomplished such a great feat, pointing instead to other well-known figures. Richard Ramsbotham offers a completely different perspective by reexamining the available evidence and by introducing unexplored aspects of Rudolf Steiner’s spiritual-scientific research. READ MORE

The Time Is at Hand!
The Rosicrucian Nature of Goethe's Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily and the Mystery Dramas of Rudolf Steiner
Paul Marshall Allen and Joan deRis Allen

In 1795 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe produced his tale of tales—The fairytale of "The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily." An initiatory fable of transformation, the tale arose out of the Rosicrucian, alchemical impulses that play an important role in Faust and Goethe's other writings. The authors begin by placing the fairytale against the background of Goethe's life and cultural setting. They then discuss its importance in the development of Steiner's spiritual science. Finally, they describe its visual language, profound mystical insights, and relevance for us today. READ MORE

From The Collected Works of Rudolf Steiner

Anthroposophy in the Light of Goethe’s Faust
Volume One of Spiritual–Scientific Commentaries on Goethe’s Faust
Translated by Burley Channer
18 lectures, various cities, 1910–1916 (CW 272); extracts from Rudolf Steiner's writings on Faust (CW 65, 139)
READ MORE

Goethe’s Faust in the Light of Anthroposophy
Volume Two of Spiritual–Scientific Commentaries on Goethe’s Faust
Translated by Burley Channer
13 lectures in Dornach and Prague, Sept. 30, 1916 - Jan. 19, 1919 (CW 273); Excerpts from various texts and two poems by Goethe
READ MORE

For Goethe as a young man, Shakespeare became the genius who showed him the way to the “New World,” because in giving shape to his characters, Shakespeare understood how to oscillate between the necessity of natural law and freedom of thought—the same balancing act that modern humanity must feel if it is not to lose reality in abstract thought. 

—Rudolf Steiner, from "Faust and Hamlet," lecture of April 2, 1922, in Goethe's Faust in the Light of Anthroposophy (CW 273)