The Plays and Poems of Nicholas Rowe, Volume III

Book excerpt: Nicholas Rowe was the first Poet Laureate of the Georgian era. A fascinating and important yet largely overlooked figure in eighteenth-century literature, he is the ‘lost Augustan’. His plays are important both for the way they address the political and social concerns of the day and for reflecting a period in which the theatre was in crisis. This edition sets out to demonstrate Rowe’s mastery of the early eighteenth century theatre, especially his providing significant roles for women, and examines the political and historical stances of his plays. It also highlights his work as a translator, which was both innovative and deeply in tune with current practices as exemplified by John Dryden and Alexander Pope. This is the first scholarly edition of all Rowe’s plays and poems and is accompanied by 15 musical scores and 31 black and white illustrations. In this third volume the late plays, The Tragedy of Jane Shore and The Tragedy of the Lady Jane Grey are presented, along with a newly written explanatory introduction by Claudine van Hensbergen which precedes the full edited text. Appendices covering performance history, the related music and textual apparatus are also included. A consolidated bibliography is included with the final volume for ease of reference.