Shakespeare 1609: "Cymbeline" and "the Sonnets" Book

How has Shakespeare been interpreted since his death in 1616? How are we to explain the posthumous fame that surrounds the name "Shakespeare"? This textbook considers these questions through case studies of two texts that appeared in about 1609 - "Cymbeline", as a play on the London stage, and "The Sonnets" as a Quarto volume. As well as being roughly contemporaneous, these texts have been received more ambiguously than the majority of the Shakesperean canon. "Cymbeline" has been widely neglected, while the current fame of Shakespeare's sonnets was not anticipated by the 17th-century reading public, who largely ignored the volume. This study looks at these works and considers their generic distinctiveness, their complex representations of sexuality, and the varied ways in which they have been received by subsequent generations. It includes key secondary readings from influential critics.Read More