The author combines biography, literary criticism, and cultural history to depict the poet and his milieu. Divided into three parts, the first reconstructs rural upbringing, education, and country customs and festivities; the second follows the theatrical career in the metropolis while surveying contemporary literature, bibliographical sources, and providing a proposed chronology and critique of the plays, together with discussions of the stage, fairy mythology, witchcraft, and the sonnets’ possible aims; the final section treats the poet’s retirement, moral character, and early memorials. Lengthy portraits of manners, recreations, and superstitions are woven throughout to explain how social life informed the writings.