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"Tracing the impact of Ovid's account of Philomela's tapestry on Tius Andronicus, The Rape of Lucrece, Cymbeline, and The Winter's Tale . . . argue[s] that Shakespearean ekphrasis typically stages not a speaking out of the silenced female image . . . but instead an abjection and appropriation of feminine sexual power."

Explores Phoenix and Turtle and Shakespeare's sonnets in the context of elegies for the Stanley family, the relationship between Sir John Salusbury and Elizabeth I, Robert Chester's Loves Martyr, and Shakespeare' own concerns with death and being remembered.

Analyzes "It was a lover and his lass" and "Under the greenwood tree" in As You Like It and The Willow Song in Othello in contrast to the music of Measure for Measure and Twelfth Night. Asserts that the "earlier plays both in the material appearance of their play texts and in the nature of their earliest performances represent a more uneasy integration of song into drama."

Examines the interplay of "high" and "low" lyric forms (e.g. love lyric, ballad, ode) in Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night, 2 Henry IV, Hamlet, and Winter's Tale. Argues that "Shakespeare exploits the possibilities of popular song as lesser lyric . . . us[ing] the freedom of this unassuming genre to stage moments of absorption allying it with the Orphic power of the greater lyric of the ode."

Historicizes the opposing attitudes regarding the environment found in the early modern pastoral, contending that Shakespeare's work promotes the ancient Roman values of community and sustainability.

Examines "incidences of end-stopping and enjambment, mid-line breaks, shared lines, short lines, and long lines" in Shakespeare's dramatic writing. Determines that no "single 'rule' for delivery and dramatic function" can be applied for these verse patterns.

Considers the sounds of Shakespeare's "word music," suggesting that "[a]ny close, performance-focused reading of Shakespeare" should entail "the musicality of the words (how do the words sound, and what effect does this have on their overall meaning and dramatic function)." Performs this reading on Viola's "willow cabin speech" in Twelfth Night and Lady Macbeth's insane musings.

Explains how to metrically scan Shakespeare's verse by using metaphors such as "ride a horse," "run a foot race," "dance a round," "walk the talk," and "hear with your eyes."

Using twentieth-century productions of Othello as a case study, examines the reception and performance of blank verse from Shakespeare's time and how blank verse is interpreted on stage and film in the latter half of the twentieth century.

Explicates speech acts of female characters, including Princess Catherine in Henry V, the Jailer's Daughter in Two Noble Kinsmen, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra), and the widows in Richard III to examine how women use poetic forms and language to assert an identity outside a masculine mainstream which casts them only as objects.