A professor emerita at the University of Birmingham, she won the British Academy's Rose Mary Crawshay Prize in 1979.
[6] In 1964, Rees published her critical biography of the poet and playwright Samuel Daniel (1562–1619),[7] which has subsequently become the standard study.
In Rees' view, Austen was influenced by the political and social events of the day, was steeped in the literary tradition, and was driven by a strong (if unstated) Christian morality.
[10] The work presented a highly original, if controversial, case that Shakespeare's creative process was not of careful intellectual construction, but rather that his imagination evolved in response to the storyline as he wrote.
In Sir Philip Sidney and Arcadia, she demonstrated his rich narrative and humanist views, and took issue with his portrayal as a strict Calvinist by other scholars.