This essay considers the contrast between plainness and eloquence in some canonical English (secular) lyrics and plays from Wyatt through Shakespeare. Its claim is that in the relevant body of work, and in the culture as a whole, each of the styles bore a specifiable ideological charge. It shows that English secular poetry and drama in the sixteenth and early seventeenth century was profoundly aware of the ideologies associated with the two levels or kinds of style, and profoundly divided in its commitments. In lyric poetry, this is true in Wyatt at the beginning of the sixteenth century and of Sidney at the end. In drama, Shakespeare is profoundly aware both of the styles and of the ideologies with which they are associated. He uses and also critiques both of these in the poems and the plays. Othello is the culmination of both the use and the critique.

本文考虑了一些规范的英语（世俗）歌词中的朴素和口才之间的对比，以及从怀亚特到莎士比亚的戏剧。它的主张是，在相关的工作体系中以及在整个文化中，每种风格都有特定的意识形态负担。它表明，十六世纪和十七世纪初的英国世俗诗歌和戏剧深刻地意识到了与这两个层次或类型的风格相关的意识形态，并且在承诺方面也有深刻的分歧。在抒情诗中，十六世纪初的怀亚特（Wyatt）和末尾的西德尼（Sidney）都是如此。在戏剧中，莎士比亚深刻地意识到了它们的风格和与之相关的意识形态。他在诗歌和戏剧中都使用并批评了这两者。奥赛罗 是使用和评论的最高潮。