Shakespeare’s Late Plays and Poems Shakespeare’s Late Plays and Poems Author Kate McPherson Copy Editor Leah Hamby Senior Encoder Leah Hamby Encoding and Metadata LEMDO Team Copyright Holder (Content) Kate McPherson Copyright Holder (XML and interface) University of Victoria Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Mitacs Globalink Research Internship Utah Valley University

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Early Modern England Encyclopedia

By Kate McPherson, inspired by Michael Best’s Shakespeare’s Life and Times, Internet Shakespeare Editions

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This document uses Canadian English spelling

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The 1634 quarto of The Two Noble Kinsmen, published for the first time 18 years after Shakespeare’s death. Courtesy of Folger Shakespeare Library. CC BY-SA 4.0.
Overview

Shakespeare’s final years as an active playwright feature an array of plays, many of them concerned with loss and reunion, particularly of fathers and daughters. Driven to write a new style of play by the rise of the court masque and The King’s Men’s acquisition of an indoor playing space called the Blackfriars, Shakespeare’s late plays feature more music and spectacle. The smaller, indoor theater catered to a more refined clientele and allowed the King’s Men, who still used the Globe theater, to play year-round and increase their profits. Shakespeare’s plays from this period include: A patchwork tale of adventure, shipwreck, loss and rediscovery (Pericles) An odd and possibly unfinished tragedy: (Timon of Athens) A fairytale romance of Britain and Rome: (Cymbeline) A tale of tragic jealousy and pastoral rebirth: (The Winter’s Tale) A tale of a brave new world: (The Tempest) A tale of a king, his wives, and the Church: (Henry VIII) A tale drawn from Don Quixote, heavily revised in the 18th century: (Cardenio, or Double Falsehood) A tale drawn from Chaucer’s Knight’s Tale: (Two Noble Kinsmen)

Publication and Documented History, 1608–1616 Composition Date Range Play Title Evidence 1607–1608 Pericles Published in a bad quarto in 1609 with Shakespeare’s name on title page. Not published in the 1623 Folio but included in 1664 Third Folio. 1604–1609 Timon of Athens May have been left unfinished. Published in 1623 Folio. 1609 Sonnets Published in quarto in 1609 during a closure of the theaters due to plague. Shakespeare’s role in overseeing the publication is unknown. 1607–1610 Cymbeline Simon Forman saw a performance in 1611. Published in 1623 Folio. 1609–1611 The Winter’s Tale Simon Forman saw a performance in May, 1611; performed at Court in November, 1611. 1611 The Tempest Performed at Court in November, 1611; uses sources not available until 1610. Published in 1623 Folio. 1612–1613 Henry VIII; Or All Is True The Globe burned down at a performance in 1613. Probably written in collaboration with John Fletcher. Published in 1623 Folio. 1612–13 Cardenio; Or Double Falsehood A lost play, perhaps by Fletcher and Shakespeare, acted at Court in 1612. Reconstructed and performed in 2012. 1613–15 The Two Noble Kinsmen Written with John Fletcher; uses a source not available until 1613. Not published in the First Folio in 1623. Published in quarto in 1634.

The records of Master of the Revels, George Buck (or Buc), who held the post that supervised court performances and the licensing of plays starting in 1603, survive. They list both The Tempest and The Winter’s Tale as part of the Christmas festivities in the winter of 1611–1612.

The New Oxford Shakespeare suggests the following chronology and authorship for the plays from this period: 1608: Pericles, with George Wilkins 1608: Coriolanus 1609: Sonnets and A Lover’s Complaint 1610: The Winter’s Tale 1610: Cymbeline 1611: The Tempest 1612: Cardenio, with John Fletcher 1613: Henry VIII, with John Fletcher 1613: The Two Noble Kinsmen, with John Fletcher

Key Print Sources Berger, Thomas L., and Jesse M. Lander. Shakespeare in Print, 1593–1640. In A Companion to Shakespeare. ed. David Scott Kastan. Blackwell, 1999, pp. 395–413. Taylor, Gary et al., eds. The New Oxford Shakespeare. Oxford University Press, 2016.
Key Online Sources Best, Michael. The Sixth Age: Plays from about 1608 to 1611. Shakespeare’s Life and Times. Internet Shakespeare Editions. University of Victoria, https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/life/last%20plays/lateplaygroup.html. Accessed 25 May 2017. Best, Michael. The Seventh Age: Plays of Shakespeare’s Retirement. Shakespeare’s Life and Times. Internet Shakespeare Editions. University of Victoria, https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/life/retirement/finalplays.html. Accessed 25 May 2017. Dailey, Kate. History of Cardenio. BBC News Magazine. 10 May 2012. https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-18010384. Nelson, Alan. Account of Sir George Buc. Shakespeare Documented. https://shakespearedocumented.folger.edu/resource/document/account-sir-george-buc-master-revels-listing-plays-performed-year-1611-12. Accessed 25 May 2017.
Image Sources Fletcher, John, and William Shakespeare. The Two Noble Kinsmen. The Cotes for John Waterson, 1634. Shakespeare Documented. Folger Shakespeare Library. https://shakespearedocumented.folger.edu/file/stc-11075-copy-1-title-page.