British Literature: Chaucer to Victorian Age

Dr. S. B. Biradar

SVM College, ILKAL, Karnataka

biradarsb@gmail.com

How to Read Literature

• Dedication

• Perseverance

• Involvement

• Accept the challenges

• Close reading

• 5Ws (what, where, when, who, why)

• 1H (How)

• Authors, terms, themes and examples

• Note Making

• Retention in memory

• Connecting the parallels

???

• Who said the father of our splendid poetry?• Canterbury Tales as The Prologue to modern fiction?• Who invented rhyme royal?• Which is the first work of Chaucer?• Which is the autobiographical poem of Chaucer?• whose marriage is celebrated in the The Parliament of

Fowls?• Which is the longest poem of Chaucer?• How many stories The Legend of Good women by

Chaucer contain?• On whose death The book of Duchess is written by

Chaucer?

Answers

• Matthew Arnold

• Long

• Chaucer

• The Book of the Duchess

• The House of Fame

• King Richard II

• Troilus and Criseyde (8000 lines)

• The Legend of good women – Prologue and 8 stories

• Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster, wife of John of Gaunt

Close Reading of The Canterbury Tales

• Unfinished work at the time of Chaucer’s death

• Stories narrated by 29 Pilgrims

• The shrine of martyr St Thomas Becket in Cannterbury

• All the pilgrims gather at Tabard Inn, Southwark

• Why gather here? – preparation for their pilgrimage

• Harry Bailly the host of the Inn

• Suggests a story telling contest

• An elegant dinner at the end of the trip

• Host becomes the Judge of the contest

Close Reading of Canterbury tales• Portrait of Gallery

• The knight first story

• Social hierarchy therefore Ist story teller

• Knight had fought for the crusades for the sake of Christianity

• Knight represents the values of chivalry truth honour and justice

• The squire – the Knight’s son

• Contrastive to Knight vain and lusty

• Enjoys singing writing poetry and horse riding

• “Squire was as fresh as is the month of May”

• The yeoman – servant accompanies the Knight and the Squire

• The Prioress her name is madame Eglantine

Close Reading of Canterbury tales

• On her brooch – “Love Conquers All”• What metal? • In which language?• she speaks French pretends to be of a higher

aristocratic class• The Monk is complete contrast to his relgious nature • The Friar – his name is Hubert• He carries knives and pins in his sleeves• The Merchant – trades in furs and other clothes from

Flanders • The Clerk of Oxford – devoted to the works of Aristotle• Though poor Spends all his money on books

Close Reading of Canterbury tales

• Sergeant of Law

• He knows of every statute of England

• The Franklin

• Wealthy landowner

• Lives for his sensual pleasure

• He is compared to Epicurus and St Julian because he is happy and hospitable

• Carries a dagger and a trinket bag of silk

• The Guildsmen – 5 – Haberdasher, Carpenter, Weaver, Dyer, Tapestry

Close Reading of Canterbury tales

• The Cook – works for Guildsmen• Shipman – steals wine while the ships captain sleeps• The Doctor – fond of gold and makes lot of money• Not studied the bible - reason- lacks the concern and

mercy of the true healer• The wife of Bath – her name is Alisoun, a professional

weaver, gap- toothed • Deaf • Wears scarlet stockings• Married 5 times• Why she goes to Canterbury • Pretentious, 6th husband

Close Reading of Canterbury tales

• The Parson – very poor man but holy and virtuous man

• Preaches Gospel and practices the same

• The Plowman – brother of Parson – honest worker – virtuous man

• The Miller – stout, brawny, broad and stronger

• wears blue hood and a white coat

• The Manciple – works at Inns of court smarter than 30 lawyers he feeds

• The summoner – officer of the church unattractive – loves garlic

• The Reeve – works as a steward on an estate

• He was a carpenter earlier

• The Pardoner – wears a small hat

• He fools people to make money

Close Reading of Canterbury tales

• The Knights Tale

• Begins the story of Theseus

• Married Hippolyta (queen of Scythia)

• Emily sister of Hippolyta

• Theseus comes back to Athens after conquering the kingdom of Amazons

• Outside Athens women were crying

• Learns thatTyrant Creon murdered their husbands dishonours the dead by leaving them unburied

• Theseus overthrows Creon

Close Reading of Canterbury Tales

• Fight with Creon forces two young knights Palamon and Arcitenot dead

• They were imprisoned

• They see Emily in a nearby garden and falls in love

• Theseus proposes a formal tournament

• Palmon prays to Venus godess of love

• Emily prays Diana – godess fo Chastity

• Arcite prays to Mars God of War

• Arcite wins

• But Venus cries on the request of Saturn earth shakes and Arcite dies

• Palmon marries Emily as he is worhty

Knight’s Tale

• First Tale in The Canterbury Tales

• Story of two Greek noble men: Palamon and Arcite

• both are cousins and duel with each other for the love of Emily

• Story taken from Boccaccio’s Teseida

• This story is retold by Shakespeare in Two Noble Kinsmen

• The Squire: Son of the Knight

• The Prioress: Name was Eglantyne (meaning sweet briar)

Chaucer’s Period

• In Chaucer’s youth England at the height of glory

• Victories in the hundred Years’ War

• Patriotic poetry

• Troubles

• Black Death: attacks of bubonic plague (1348-76)

• Economic troubles

• Serfdom changed to wage system

• Disastrous turn in Hundred years’ war with France (1337-1453)

• Peasants Revolt (1381)

Chaucer and Contemporaries

• Chaucer – detached from storms of the world

• Langland – voice of the poor, voice of revolution, chastier of vices

• Gower – denounced contemporary follies, though less sharply than Langland

• Wycliff – spiritual protest, attacked corrupt clergy

Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400)

• Father of English Poetry

• First poet of national importance

• Genius recognized in all ages including his own

• His career is divided into three phases

• French Period, Middle Period, Italian Period

• French Period, Italian Period, English Period

• Patron – John of Gaunt

• Wrote in East Midland dialect

Chaucer

• Early Period: Roman De la Rose, The book of the duchess• The Book of the Duchess: first of Chaucer’s Dream vision,

octosyllabic couplet, long prologue, depicts the sorrow of bereaved knight

• Middle Period: the House of Fame, The Parliament of fowls, Troilus and Criseyde

• The House of Fame: unfinished dream allegory in octosyllabic couplet

• The Parliament of Fowls: dream allegory in seven lines (ababbcc)

• The poet falls asleep while reading Cicero’s The Dream of Scipio in which Africans appears to Scipio in a dream and shows him heaven and future

Canterbury Tales

• Based on Boccaccio’s Decameron

• 29 Pilgrims meet at Tabard Inn, Southwark

• Pen pictures of 21 Pilgrims

• 23 Pilgrims tell stories

• Begins with Knight’s Tale

• Ends with Parson’s Tale

• Pilgrims visit the shrine of St. Thomas

• They return with the a branch of palm as a token

• The General Prologue

Canterbury Tales

• The beginning: when the sweet showers of Aprilhave pierced the dry soil of March down to the roots, and bathed every vein in moisture so that from its vital power the flowers are born

• when the west wind has also breathed upon the tender shoots

Canterbury Tales

• The Host: acts as a guide to the pilgrims

• Chaucer himself is the Narrator

• Representatives of every class in the England of that time.

• Character is revealed through clothing and physical features

Major Concerns.

• Springtime

• Pilgrimage

• Chivalry and courtly love

• Marriage and Position of women

• Corruption in church

• Features of Chaucer’s Works

• Gift of story telling, descriptive power

• Personal touches ; Charming, humorous

• Rarely philosophized

• Abridgement and swiftness in narration

• Perennial interest in humanity

William Langland (1332-1386)

• Reformer yet a pious Catholic

• The vision of Piers the Ploughman

• Two sections: Visio and Vita

• Begins with a vision of the world seen from Malvern Hills

• It is a series of dream visions

John Grower (1330-1408)

• Best known contemporary of Chaucer

• Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde is dedicated to Gower

• Didacticism, moral intent

• Confessio Amantis (1390) means confession of a lover

• John Wycliff (1384)

• Called “morning star of the Reformation”

• Translated the Latin Vulgate Bible into the vernacular

English Chaucerian

• John Lydgate

• Thomas Hoccleve

• George Ashby

• Henry Bradshaw

• George Ripley

• Thomas Norton

15th Century

• Most volcanic period of English history• Spirit of nationalism• Wars of the roses• Hundred Years War ended (English expelled from France)• End of Feudalism• Development of trade, commerce and industry• Printing effects• Progress in the intellectual realm• New Learning as the fall of Constantinople 1453• Age of Exploration• Discovery of the ancient world• Discovery of the New World

Oxford (London) Reformers

• First great products of the English renaissance

• John Colet travelled Italy Desiderius Erasmus, a classical scholar from Holland first visited England in 1499, translated bible with alternate interpretations

• Sir Thomas More Grocyn and Lincre

• Spread New Learning and Humanism

• Led to the reformation of Medieval church

Prose in the 15th Century

• Prose became the medium of the urban commercial book market in the 15th century

• Great Vowel Shift:

• Changes in pronunciation

of vowels that marked the transition from Middle English to Modern English

• Dart became date, weep became wipe

• Boat became boot, whose became house

• ‘Prestige accent’ aristocrat began to use English

Prose writers of the 15th Century

• John Congreve: chronicle of England

• Reginald Pecock: Blaming of Clergy

• Sir John Fortescue: on the Governance of England

• Walter Hylton: Scale of Perfection

• Julian Norwich:

• The Paston Letters: Valuable source of information about the 15th century

• A collection of letters written by three generations of the well to do Paston family of Norfolk.

• The letters reveal political anarchy, corruption, and violence of the time

Other writers of the 15th Century

• John Skelton: the book of Phyllyp Sparrowe

• Skeltonic Verse

• The first book printed in Verse: The Recuyell of the Histories of Troy, a translation of a French courtly romance

• Caxton and Alexander Barclay translators

• 15th century treated as “Barren period” by W. H. Auden

• Folk or Popular Ballads: Sir Patric Spens: Based on a 13th

century Alexander III ruled

• Chevy Chase: border clashes between England and Scotland, inspired by the Battle of Otterburn

Thomas Malory (1415-71)

• Le Morte D’Arthur written while imprisoned in Newgate Prison

• Translation from French Romances

• 8 tales in 21 books

• Caxton printed this work in 1485, the year in which Henry VII ascended the throne in 1485

Origin of Drama

• Began as a religious ritual

• First plays performed in church by clergymen during Easter

• From church to churchyard to noblemen’s houses to public places

• Suspicion of clergy

• Revival of Corpus Christi Festival (1311) public holiday dedicated to drama

Miracle Plays

• Date back to 12th century

• Deal with lives of Saints

• Examples: Harrowing of Hell

• St Nicholas

• Raising of Lazarus (last two by Hilarius)

• In these plays, Mary and Nicholas are always presented as coming to the aid of those who invoke them, as healing the sick, and protecting Christian values

Mystery Plays or Corpus Christi Cycle

• From late 14th century Mystry Plays and Morality Plays were in vogue

• Long cyclical dramas acted in relation to religious festivals

• Themes: major events in the Christian scriptures

• Creation Fall Redemption and other parts of the Bible

• Old Testament included but main focus on Christ

• Always ended with Last Judgement

The Cycles of Mystery Plays

• York, Chester, Wakefield, East Anglia are main Cycles

• Wakefield or Towneley cycle is the most renowned for being freer and less religious in spirit, thus being more entertaining

• The Second Shepherd’s Play by Wakefield Master

• A later group of Mysteries is the Digby cycle (4plays , 1500)

Morality Plays

• Allegorical

• Progress of a single universal character from the cadle to the grave and sometimes beyond

• Personified virtues and vices, God, devil, etc.

• Example: Everyman (“Everyman, I will go with theeand be thy guide, in thy most need to go by thyside”)

• The castle of Perseverance

• Wisdom

• Mankind

Interludes

• Morality grew into the Interlude

• Born out of the social need to amuse rather than instruct

• Patronage of Henry VIII

• Short allegorical farcical pieces filling intervals

• Forerunner of regular drama

• Example:

• The Four Ps (John Heywood)

• Main characters are Palmer, Pedlar Pardoner, Pothecary

Transition from the Medieval to the Modern

• Printing and growth of literacy, education

• Humanism

• Lyricism and Music

Early Tudor Period (1487-1557)

• Renaissance

• Associated movements

• Humanism and Reformation

• Geographical discoveries

• Broadened imagination

• Influence of Italians: Dante, Ariosto, Petrarch

• Literary experimentation

Fall of Constantinople (1453)

• Instant Cause of the spread of learning

• Constantinople (Capital of Byzantine empire)

• Byzantine (Eastern Roman empire) during the Middle ages (Romania)

• Byzantine empire lasted a millennium established in 4th AD

• Most powerful, economic cultural and military center in Europe

• Fall of Constantinople in 1453 (Turkish sultan Mohomet II defeated Byzantine Constantine XI)

Early Renaissance

• After the Fall of Constantinople

• Greek texts were brought and copied

• Libraries founded

• Schools for study of Greek and Latin opened

• Greek Humanists moved from Byzantium to Italy

• Platonic Academy opened in Florence in 1462

Second Wave of Renaissance

• Continued zeal for classical study

• Movement spread to Germany, Poland, France and northern countries

• Scholarship and learning of men like Thomas More, Erasmus and Copernicus

• In science, discoveries of Copernicus, Galileo, Keplerand Newton

• Schools of painting in Italy

• Raphael, Leonardo, Bellini and Michelangelo

Renaissance humanism

• Founder of renaissance humanism was Petrarch

• Humanism meant studying/teaching a curriculum including grammer, rhetoric, moral philosoply, poetry and history through classical literature

• Two concerns

• Centrality and dignity of man

• Study of classical texts

• Flourishing of printing

• Roger ascham(1514-68)

• Tutor of princess Elizabeth in Greek and Latin

• Author of the school master(1570, prose)

Concerns of humanism

• God created the universe, but it was humans who developed it

• Studied classical Latin, not medieval

• Return to the classics to re-establish past glory of Europe

• Humanism favoured Philosophy, the moral and the practical, reason

• The Vitruvius man is a world-renowned drawing created by Leonardo da Vinci (1487)

Renaissance in England

• About 1550-1660

• Rediscovery of Greco-Roman classics

• New literary forms

• Growth of vernacular literatures

16th century England

• Henry VII ended the wars of the Roses and established the Tudor dynasty

• The heraldic emblem of the Tudor dynasty, the Tudor rose, is a combination of the Lancastrian red rose and the Yorkist white rose

• Major Literary Conventions

• Petrarchanism

• Petrarchan Sonnet

• English Sonnet

• Spenserian sonnet is a variation of the English Sonnet

• The pastoral

• Set in the countryside, which is ideal, unspoilt, beautiful

• Characters are shepherds/shep-herdesses who are also poets

• The epic

• Epics in English appeared in the later Tudor period and 17th century

• Spenser’s Faerie Queene

• Milton’s Paradise Lost

• Epyllions

• Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis

• Marlowe’s Hero and Leander

• Nashe’s The Choice of Valentine

• John Skeleton (c.1460-1529)• Informal “poet laureate” and academic• Sir Thomas More (1478-1535)• Beheaded in 1535 for refusing to give up the authority of the

Pope• Utopia (1516)• The principal literary work of Sir Thomas More• An essay in two books• Originally written in Latin(1516); translated by Ralph

Robinson(1551)• Influenced by Amerigo Vespucci printed in 1507• Opens with a historical event at Bruges in 1515, in which

Thomas More had taken part• First book describes the oppressive injustices of England• Second book contrasts England with Utopia(Nowhere land)

protagonist Raphael Hythloday (More met him at Antwerp)

• The island of Utopia

• Elected representatives called Syphogrants and Traniborus, above whom is the Prince

• Absence of tyranny

• No privacy; goods are stored in warehouses; there are no locks on doors; houses are rotated between the citizens every ten years

• Everyone lives in the countryside and does agriculture

• Women do the same work as men

• Every person learns a trade

• Gold is used to chain criminals

• Several religions are tolerated, but atheism is not

• War, especially bloodshed, is disliked

• Sir Thomas Wyatt (c.1503-42)

• Wyatt and Surrey founded English Renaissance poetry

• Introduced terza rima of Dante and ottava rima

• Wyatt also introduced the Horatian satire; wrote 3 satires

• 96/97 poems posthumously published in Tottel’sMiscellany

• Imprisoned in the Tower of London for allegedly

• Petrarchan conceit

• Became the most artificial of Elizabeth poetic conventions

• Shakespeare lampooned on Sonnet 130, “My mistress’s eyes are nothing like the sun

• Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (c. 1517-47)

• 14 years younger than Wyatt; Wyatt’s poetic disciple

• Executed on charge of treason when barely 30

• Introduced blank verse from the Italian into English poetry in his translation of Books II and IV of Aeneid

• Surrey and the Sonnet

• Sonnets addressed to Geraldine

• Tottel’s Miscellany

• Original title: Songs and sonnets (1557, 1st edition 271 poems)

• Other Sonneteers in English

• Samuel Daniel-Delia(1592, 50 sonnets)

• Henry Constable-Diana (1592)

• Thomas Watson-The Tears of Fancie (1593)

• Giles Fletcher-Licia (1593)

• Michael Drayton-Ideas Mirrour (1594, 64 sonnets addressed to Phoebe; later reworked as Idea)

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

• Shakespeare’s Age

• Reign of the Tudor queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603)

• Defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588

• Drama was the most popular entertainment

• The concept of the Human being

• Renaissance scientists held that each individual is a microcosm that reflects and is in tune with the macrocosm of the universe

• The human body was believed to be composed of the 4 elements-earth, water, air and fire-manifested as 4 humours-blood, phlegm, choler and melancholy

Elizabethan theatre• Acting troupes• Played in the countryards of taverns• Permanent theatres• The first permanent theatre was James Burbage’s ‘The

Theatre’• Theatre• 1564- April 23, born of William Shakespeare• 1587- open air amphitheatre called The Rose is opened

at bankside, Surrey• 1594- The Lord Chamberlain’s company• 1600- Richard Burbage is forced to lease out Blackfriars• 1613- june 29, fire at the Globe theatre• 1614- the Globe theatre is rebuilt on original foundations

• 1616- April 25, burial of William Shakespeare in the chancel of Holy Trinity church in Statford

• 1642- The English Civil War beaks out between the parliamentarians and the Royalists

• 1653- Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of England

• 1660- The Restoration, and the end of the Puritan rule, sees the opening of the theatres again

• Drama in the Elizabethan Age

• After defeating the Spanish Armada, England became intensely patriotic, and this spirit reflected in the plays

• The First Polio (1623)• Titled “Mr. William Shakespeares comedies, Histories,

and tragedies”• Compiled by John Heminges and Henry condell• Dedicated to the “incomparable pair of brethren”

William Herbert• Only 36 included in the first Folio• Quarto and Folio• Quarto- meaning “a fourth part”• Folios are double the size of quartos• Shakespeare in the 18th century• Rowe was the first editor of Shakespeare’s plays as well

as his first biographer• David Garrick was a major Shakespearean actor

• Shakespeare in the Romantic Era

• Coleridge was the earliest of the modern Shakespearean critics

• Elizabethan Tragedy

• Has been called romantic tragedy

• Disregarded the unities: use of elaborate subplots

• Gorboduc, or Ferrex and Porrex (1561)

• First tragedy in English

• First play to be written in blank verse

• Thomas Nortan wrote the first 3 acts of Gorboduc, and Thomas sackville, the last 2

• Revenge Tragedy• Popular in Elizabethan and Jacobean times• Elizabethan comedy• The first comedy was Ralph Roister Doister (c.1553) written by

the schoolmaster Nicholas Udall• The second comedy considered to be Grammer Gurton’s

Needle written by William Stevenson• Influence of Plautus and Terence• Nicholas Udall wrote Flowers for Latin Speaking• Plautus, Terence and Shakespeare• Shakespeare incorporated elements from Plautine plays and

those of Terence into his comedies• The comedy of Errors is a re-working of Plautus’s Menaechmi• Shakespeare’s Falstaff is a representation of the Plautine stock

character “parasite”

• The Plague Years

• Shakespeare’s non-dramatic poetry

• Venus and Adonis (1593)

• The Rape of Lucrece (1594)

• Both dedicated to the Earl of Southampton, probably seeking his patronage

• Lord chamberlain’s Men

• A company of actors in 1594, when theatres were opened

• The Globe-built by James Burbage in 1576

• A unique biography of Shakespeare written by Bill Bryson in 2007 (Title: Shakespeare)

• Shakespeare’s works• 37 plays• 154 sonnets• Shakespeare’s authorship has been questioned (Bacon,

Marlowe, Ben Jonson, Thomas Middleton, Sir Walter Raleigh)• The two Gentlemen of Verona (perf.1593)• Theme of male friendship disturbed by sexual jealously as in

Lyly’s Euphues• “Friendship literature” of the Middle Ages• The Comedy of Errors (1594)• Conforms to the 3 unities• Principal source is Plautus’s Menaechmi, translated by William

Warner• Influenced by Plautus’s Amphitryon• Romeo and Juliet (perf. 1595)

• The Merchant of Venice(1600)• Portia, Shylock (daughter Jessica), Balthazar(asks for

Bassanio’s ring, refuses fees)• Lawyer Balthazar- Portia• Her maid Nerissa as clerk Stephano• Cascet scene• Title character Antonio• Launcelot Gobbo- the servant of Shylock• Shylock- Barabas in the Jew of Malta• As You Like It (1600): a parody of the pastoral romance• Forest of Arden appears• Orlando flees to the forest of Arden (Bernam Forest)• Oliver attempts to kill Orlando• Rosalind, Pheme, Touchstone, Audrey

Problem Plays

• Problems of Shakespeare: Alls well that Ends well (1604), Measure for Measure (1604), Troilus and Cressida (1609)

• Problem plays applied to the plays of Ibsen

• Great Tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth

• Character is destiny

• Hamlet (1601)

• Denmark is threatened by Norwegian invasion

• Informed by Horatio, Prince Hamlet meets his fathers’ ghost

• Claudius guilt is revealed at the time of Play within the play

Hamlet (1601)

• Hamlet goes to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

• Hamlet kills Polonius in Gertrude’s chamber

• Fortinbras of Norway proclaimed king of Denmark at the end

• Hamlet dies at the hands of Laertes

• Hamlet is an artistic failure for the lack of objective co relative – T. S. Eliot

Othello (1602)

• The Moor of Venice (subtitle)

• Coleridge applied the term motiveless malignity to Iago

• Desdemona daughter of Barbantio

• Casio gives the handkerchief to his mistress Bianca

• Othello kills Desdemona in her bed chamber

• Jealous and mistrust theme

• King Lear

• Favorite daughter Cordelia

• Mad Lear and blind Gloucester meet near Dover

• Gloucester was blinded by Cornwall with the help of Edmund for keeping the secret of French invasion

Shakespeare’s Plays

• Cordelia’s death symbolizes Christ’s crucifixion

• Macbeth: source Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland

• Supernatural beings called Weird sisters

• They appear in thunder and lightening of the storm

• Three witches concoct a magical brew in a cauldron and meets Macbeth

• Shakespeare’s Roman plays: Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra and Coriolanus

Shakespeare’s Plays

• Julius Caesar defeats Pompey

• Caesar is assassinated in Capitol

• Brutus ambivalent figure both evil and good

• The Tempest (1611): Prospero, Caliban, Ariel

• Postcolonial study of The Tempest

• Beginning in about 1950 with the publication of the book Prospero and Caliban: The psychology of colonization by French Psychoanalyst Octave Mennoni

Important Scenes in the Tragedies

• Nunnery Scene (Hamlet 3.1)

• Flower Scene (Hamlet 4.1)

• Gravediggers Scene (Hamlet 5.1)

• Porter’s scene (Macbeth 2.3)

• Sleepwalking scene (Macbeth 5.1)

• Temptation Scene (Othello 3.3)

• Handkerchief Scene (Othello 4.3)

• Willow scene (Othello, 4.3)

• Storm scene (King Lear 3.2)

• Trial Scene (King Lear 3.6)

Plays with Prologues

• Henry VIII: Chorus

• Troilus and Cressida: Chorus

• Romeo and Juliet: Chorus

• Henry V: Chorus

• Pericles: Chorus

• Macbeth: Witches

• Richard III: Richard, Duke of Gloucester

• Henry IV Part 2 Rumour

Plays with Epilogue

• Pericles: Gower

• Henry VIII Part 2: Dancer (in the chorus)

• Henry V: Chorus

• The Tempest: Prospero

• A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Puck

• As You Like It: Rosalind

• All’s Well That Ends Well: King

• Twelfth Night : Feste (song)

• Troilus and Cressida: Pandarus

Sonnets

• 154 Sonnets, written during 1592-98

• First published by Thomas Thorpe in quarto form (1609)

• First 126 sonnets- addressed to Henry Wriothesley

• Next 26 sonnets- addressed to Dark Lady

• Last 2 sonnets are about Cupid

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