This introduction to John Day’s The Parliament of Bees is book-ended by bees. It begins by drawing together early modern English knowledge about the nature of bees, which situates The Parliament of Bees in a larger context of “real” bees in the early modern period. After establishing the apian background of the text, the introduction describes what is known of the life of John Day, noting his education, his other writings, and his scandalous arrest. The introduction then outlines the textual history of The Parliament of Bees. The date of publication, for instance, is a matter of debate, as is its relationship to some of the texts of other playwrights. As has been noted by scholars of John Day, The Parliament of Bees contains several passages that are also found in the plays of Thomas Dekker. The introduction also spends considerable time debating the genre of the text, arguing that the text is not a play; instead it is “character” and “emblem” literature. The introduction then returns to bees, particularly emblematic bees in early modern English literature, finding bees used as symbols and metaphors in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century texts