James Shirley | Criticism

This literature criticism consists of approximately 78 pages of analysis & critique of James Shirley.

James Shirley | Criticism

This literature criticism consists of approximately 78 pages of analysis & critique of James Shirley.
This section contains 21,064 words
(approx. 71 pages at 300 words per page)
Buy the Critical Essay by Ira Clark

SOURCE: Clark, Ira. “Shirley's Social Comedy of Adaptation to Degree.” In Professional Playwrights: Massinger, Ford, Shirley, & Brome, pp. 112-54. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1992.

In the following essay, Clark argues that Shirley's plays reinforce aristocratic values.

Shirley's Reverence for Degree

I never affected the ways of flattery: some say I have lost my preferment, by not practising that Court sin.1 So claimed Shirley in 1639, finally dedicating his second play and first tragedy, The Maid's Revenge (1626), “come late to the impression.” This oft-noted asseveration was made by a poet-playwright who could make some claim to privilege (far more than Brome, perhaps more than Massinger, distinctly less than Ford), enough to display a coat of arms. One wondrous season, 1633-34, he was identified as a gentleman, a member of Gray's Inn, and “one of the Valets of the Chamber of Queen Henrietta Maria”; he championed the court's interest in...

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This section contains 21,064 words
(approx. 71 pages at 300 words per page)
Buy the Critical Essay by Ira Clark
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Critical Essay by Ira Clark from Gale. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.