James Shirley

James Shirley (1596-1666). Engraving by William Henry Worthington (?1795-1839?). Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

James Shirley (or Sherley) (18 September 1596 - October 1666) was an English poet and dramatist.

Overview

Shirley belonged to the great period of English dramatic literature, but, in Lamb's words, he "claims a place among the worthies of this period, not so much for any transcendent genius in himself, as that he was the last of a great race, all of whom spoke nearly the same language and had a set of moral feelings and notions in common." His career of play writing extended from 1625 to the suppression of stage plays by Parliament in 1642.

Life

Shirley was born in London in 1596.

He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, London, St John's College, Oxford, and St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he took his B.A. degree in 1617.

His earliest poem, Echo, or the Unfortunate Lovers (of which no copy is known, but which is probably the same as Narcissus of 1646), was published in 1618.

After earning his M.A., he was, Wood says, "a minister of God's word in or near St. Albans."

Apparently in consequence of his conversion to the Roman Catholic faith, he left his living, and was master of St. Albans School from 1623 to 1625. His first play, Love Tricks, seems to have been written while he was teaching at St Albans.

He moved in 1625 to London, where he lived in Gray's Inn, and for the next 18 years he was a prolific writer for the stage, producing more than 30 regular plays, tragedies, comedies, and tragicomedies, and showing no sign of exhaustion when a stop was put to his occupation by the Puritan edict of 1642. Most of his plays were performed by Queen Henrietta's Men, the playing company for which Shirley served as house dramatist, much as Shakespeare, Fletcher, and Massinger had done for the King's Men.

Shirley's sympathies were with the King in his disputes with Parliament, and he received marks of special favor from the Queen. He made a bitter attack on William Prynne, who had attacked the stage in Histriomastix, and, when in 1634 a special masque was presented at Whitehall by the gentlemen of the Inns of Court as a practical reply to Prynne, Shirley supplied the text –The Triumph of Peace.

Between 1636 and 1640 Shirley went to Ireland, under the patronage apparently of the earl of Kildare. 3 or 4 of his plays were produced by his friend John Ogilby in Dublin in the theatre in Werburgh Street, the earliest built in Ireland and at the time of Shirley's visit only a year old. During his Dublin stay, Shirley wrote The Doubtful Heir, The Royal Master, The Constant Maid, and St. Patrick for Ireland. In his absence from London, Queen Henrietta's Men sold off a dozen of his plays to the stationers, who published them in the late 1630s. Shirley, when he returned to London in 1640, would no longer work for the Queen Henrietta's company as a result; his final plays of his London career were acted by the King's Men.

On the outbreak of the English Civil War he seems to have served with the earl of Newcastle, but when the King's fortunes began to decline he returned to London. He owed something to the kindness of Thomas Stanley, but supported himself chiefly by teaching, publishing some educational works under the Commonwealth. Besides these he published during the period of dramatic eclipse four small volumes of poems and plays, in 1646, 1653, 1655, and 1659. He "was a drudge" for John Ogilby in his translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and survived into the reign of Charles II, but, though some of his comedies were revived, he did not again attempt to write for the stage.

Driven from their home in Fleet Street during the great fire of London, 1666, he and his wife took refuge in the parish of St. Giles where both of them died on the same day. They were survived by 3 sons and a married daughter. They were buried in the Church of St. Giles-in-the-Fields, 29 October 1666.

Writing

Shirley was born to great dramatic wealth, and he handled it freely. He constructed his own plots out of the abundance of materials that had been accumulated during 30 years of unexampled dramatic activity. He did not strain after novelty of situation or character, but worked with confident ease and buoyant copiousness on the familiar lines, contriving situations and exhibiting characters after types whose effectiveness on the stage had been proved by ample experience. He spoke the same language with the great dramatists, it is true, but this grand style is sometimes employed for the artificial elevation of commonplace thought. "Clear as day" becomes in this manner "day is not more conspicuous than this cunning"; while the proverb "Still waters run deep" is ennobled into: "The shallow rivers glide away with noise – The deep are silent."

The violence and exaggeration of many of his contemporaries left him untouched. His scenes are ingeniously conceived, his characters boldly and clearly drawn; and he never falls beneath a high level of stage effect.

Shirley's tragedies are: The Maides Revenge (acted, 1626; printed, 1639); The Traytor (licensed, 1631; printed, 1635), which Alexander Dyce reckoned as Shirley's best tragedy; Love's Crueltie (1631; printed, 1640); The Duke's Mistris (acted, 1636; printed, 1638); The Polititian (acted, 1639; printed, 1655): The Cardinal (acted, 1641; printed, 1652), a good example of Shirley's later style, and characterized by Edmund Gosse as perhaps the last great play produced by the giants of the Elizabethan age.

His comedies are: Love Tricks, or the School of Complement (licensed, 1625; printed under the latter title, 1631); The Wedding (licensed, 1626; printed, 1629); The Brothers (acted, 1626; printed, 1652); The Wittie Faire One (acted, 1628; printed, 1633); The Gratefull Servant (licensed in 1629 as The Faithful Servant; printed, 1630); Changes: Or Love in a Maze (acted and printed, 1632); Hide Parke (acted, 1632; printed, 1637); The Ball (acted, 1632; printed, 1639); The Bird in a Cage (acted and printed, 1633), ironically dedicated to William Prynne; The Young Admirall (licensed, 1633; printed, 1637); The Gamester (played at court, 1634; printed, 1637), executed at the command of Charles I. who is said to have invented or proposed the plot; The Example (acted, 1634; printed, 1637); The Opportunity (licensed, 1634; printed, 1640); The Coronation (licensed, 1635, as his, but printed, 1640, as by Fletcher); The Lady of Pleasure (licensed, 1635; printed, 1637); The Constant Maid, or Love will find out the Way, printed in 1640 under the former title with St Patrick for Ireland; The Royall Master (acted and printed, 1638), an excellent comedy of intrigue, with an epilogue addressed to Stratford; The Doubtfull Heir (printed, 1652), licensed as Rosania, or Love's Victory in 1640; The Gentleman of Venice (licensed, 1639; printed, 1655); The Imposture (acted, 1640; printed, 1652); The Sisters (licensed, 1642; printed, 1653); The Humorous Courtier (perhaps identical with The Duke, licensed, 1631), printed, 1640; The Court Secret (printed, 1653).

Poems (1646), by James Shirley, contained “Narcissus,” and a masque dealing with the judgment of Paris, entitled The Triumph of Beautie. A Contention for Honour and Riches (1633) appeared in an altered and enlarged form in 1659 as Honoria and Mammon.

In 1653 a selection of his pieces was published as Six New Playes.

He wrote the magnificent entertainment presented by the members of the Inns of Court to the king and queen in 1633, entitled The Triumph of Peace, the scenery being devised by Inigo Jones and the music by W. Lawes and Simon Ives. In this kind of composition he had no rival but Ben Jonson.

His Contention of Ajax and Ulysses (printed, 1659) closes with the well-known lyric, “The Glories of our Blood and State,” the now famous dirge beginning "The glories of our blood and state are shadows, not substantial things", which is said to have terrified Oliver Cromwell.

The standard edition of Shirley's works is The Dramatic Works and Poems of James Shirley, with "Notes" by William Gilford, and Additional Notes, and some Account of Shirley and his Writings, by Alexander Dyce (6 vols., 1833). A selection of his plays was edited 1888) for the “Mermaid” series, with an introduction by Edmund Gosse.

Critical introduction

by William Minto

Shirley was essentially an imitative not an original genius. His claim to a place among the great poets of his age rests solely upon his wonderful manipulative dexterity, his power of assimilating and reshaping the creations of his great predecessors.

Towards the close of a grand period, perhaps even while its leading spirits are in full creative swing, two distinct tendencies manifest themselves. Men of independent mind separate themselves from the main current, and cast about for fields which the masters have left unoccupied. Men of more pliant and docile intellect follow humbly in the footsteps of the masters, and seize freely upon the wealth which they have accumulated. Shirley belonged to the latter class. He did not try to invent new types, or to say what had not been said before; but stored his mind with the thoughts and the imagery of his predecessors, and reproduced them with joyous facility.

We may admire the fluency, the elegance, and the force of Shirley’s verse, the ease and naturalness of his dramatic situations, but the attentive reader of his predecessors is never called upon to admire anything new. Fletcher was his chief model and exemplar, but he laid them all freely under contribution. The chief critical pleasure in reading him is the pleasure of memory.

Recognition

His poems "A Hymn" and "Death the Leveller" were included in the Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900.

Publications

Poetry

• Poems & c. London: Printed for Humphrey Moseley, 1646.
• An Ode upon the Happy Return of King Charles II: To His Languishing Nations, May 29, 1660. London, 1660.
• An Essay Towards an Universal and Rational Grammar; Together with Rules for Learning Latin, in English Verse (edited by Jenkin Thomas Philipps). London: Printed by J. Downing, 1726..
• Poems (edited by Ray Livingstone Armstrong). New York: King's Crown Press, 1941.

Plays

• The Wedding. London: J. Okes for J. Grove, 1629.
• The Gratefull Servant: A comedie. London: B. Alsop & T. Fawcet for J. Grove, 1630.
• The Schoole of Complement. London: E. Allde for F. Constable, 1631
  • republished as Love Trics. London: Printed for R. T., sold by Thomas Dring, Jr., 1667.
• Changes: or, Love in a Maze: A comedie. London:G. Purslowe for W. Cooke, 1632.
• A Contention for Honour and Riches. London: E. Allde for W. Cooke, 1633.
• The Wittie Faire One: A comedie. London: B. Alsop & T. Fawcet for W. Cooke, 1633.
• The Bird in a Cage. A Comedie. London:B. Alsop & T. Fawcet for W. Cooke, 1633.
• The Triumph of Peace. A Masque. London: J. Norton for W. Cooke, 1633.
• The Traytor. A Tragedie. London: J. Norton for W. Cooke, 1635.
• Hide Park. A Comedie. London: T. Cotes for A. Crooke & W. Cooke, 1637.
• The Lady of Pleasure. A Comedie. London: Printed by T. Cotes for A. Crooke & W. Cooke, 1637.
• The Young Admirall. London: T. Cotes for A. Crooke & W. Cooke, 1637.
• The Example. London: J. Norton for A. Crooke & W. Cooke, 1637.
• The Gamester. London: J. Norton for A. Crooke & W. Cooke, 1637.
• The Dukes Mistris. London:J. Norton for A. Crooke, 1638.
• The Royall Master. London:T. Cotes for J. Crooke & R. Serger, 1638.
• The Ball. A Comedie. London: T. Cotes for A. Crooke & W. Cooke, 1639.
• The Tragedie of Chabot Admirall of France (by George Chapman, revised by Shirley). London: T. Cotes for A. Crooke & W. Cooke, 1639.
• The Maides Revenge. A Tragedy. London: T. Cotes for W. Cooke, 1639.
• The Coronation: A Comedy. London: T. Cotes for A. Crooke & W. Cooke, 1640.
• The Night-Walker; or, The Little Theife (by John Fletcher, revised by Shirley (London: T. Cotes for A. Crooke & W. Cooke, 1640.
• Loves Crueltie. A Tragedy. London: T. Cotes for A. Crooke, 1640.
• The Opportunitie: A Comedy. London: T. Cotes for A. Crooke & W. Cooke, 1640.
• The Humorous Courtier. A Comedy. London: T. Cotes for W. Cooke, sold by J. Becket, 1640.
• A Pastorall Called The Arcadia. London: J. Dawson for J. Williams & F. Eglesfeild, 1640.
• The Constant Maid. A Comedy London: J. Raworth for R. Whitaker, 1640;
• also published as Love Will Finde Out the Way. London: Ja. Cottrel for Samuel Speed, 1661.
• St. Patrick for Ireland: The first part. London: J. Raworth for R. Whitaker, 1640.
• Cupid and Death: A masque. London: T.W. for J. Crook & J. Baker, 1653.
• Six New Playes, viz. The Brothers. The Sisters. The Doubtful Heir. The Imposture. The Cardinall. The Court Secret. London: Humphrey Robinson & Humphrey Moseley, 1653.
• The Gentleman of Venice: A tragi-comedie. London: Humphrey Moseley, 1655.
• The Polititian, A Tragedy. London: Humphrey Moseley, 1655.
• No Wit, No Help Like a Woman's (by Thomas Middleton, possibly revised by Shirley). London: Humphrey Moseley, 1657.
• Honoria and Mammon ... Whereunto Is Added The Contention of Ajax and Ulisses, for the Armour of Achilles. London: John Crook, 1659.

Juvenile

• Via ad Latinam linguam complanata; The Way Made Plaine to the Latine Tongue, the Rules Composed in English and Latine Verse. London: Printed by R.W. for John Stephenson, 1649
  • also published as Grammatica Anglo-Latina. An English and Latine Grammar. London: Printed for Richard Lowndes, 1651.
• Rudiments of Grammar: The Rules Composed in English Verse for the Greater Benefit and Delight of Young Beginners. London: Printed by J. Macock for R. Lownds, 1656
  • enlarged as Manductio; or, A Leading of Children by the Hand through the Principles of Grammar. London: Printed for Richard Lowndes, 1660.

.Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy the Poetry Foundation.

Collected editions

• Dramatic Works and Poems (edited by William Gifford & Alexander Dyce). (6 volumes), London: John Murray, 1833. Volume I, Volume III, Volume IV, Volume V, Volume VI
• James Shirley (with introduction by Edmund Gosse). London: Vizetelly, 1888; London: T.F. Unwin / New York: Scribner, 1888.
• A new 10-volume edition of James Shirley's work is being edited for Oxford University Press.

Play productions

• Love Tricks (The School of Compliment). London, Phoenix theater, 1625.
• The Maid's Revenge. London, Phoenix theater, 1626.
• The Brothers (probably not the surviving play of the same name; possibly the same play as The Wedding). London, Phoenix theater(?), 1626.
• The Wedding. London, Phoenix theater, 1626-1629.
• The Witty Fair One. London, Phoenix theater, 1628.
• The Grateful Servant (The Faithful Servant). London, Phoenix theater, 1629.
• The Duke (possibly the same play as The Humorous Courtier). London, Phoenix theater, 1631.
• Love's Cruelty. London, Phoenix theater, 1631.
• The Traitor London, Phoenix theater, 1631.
• The Ball London, Phoenix theater, 1632.
• Changes, or Love in a Maze. London, Salisbury Court theater, 1632.
• Hyde Park. London, Phoenix theater, 1632.
• The Arcadia. London, Phoenix theater, 1632(?).
• The Bird in a Cage. London, Phoenix theater, 1632-1633.
• A Contention for Honor and Riches (early version of Honoria and Mammon). privately performed (?), before 1633.
• The Gamester. London, Phoenix theater, 1633.
• The Young Admiral. London, Phoenix theater, 1633.
• The Night Walker (by John Fletcher, revised by Shirley). London, Phoenix theater, 1633.
• The Triumph of Peace. Westminster, Whitehall Palace, 3 February 1634.
• The Example. London, Phoenix theater, 1634.
• The Opportunity. London, Phoenix theater, 1634.
• The Coronation London, Phoenix theater, 1635.
• The Tragedy of Chabot Admiral of France (by George Chapman, revised by Shirley). London, Phoenix theater, 1635.
• The Lady of Pleasure. London, Phoenix theater, 1635.
• The Duke's Mistress. London, Phoenix theater, 1636.
• The Royal Master Dublin, Werburgh Street theater, 1637; London, Salisbury Court theater(?), 1638.
• The Humorous Courtier (perhaps the same play as The Duke). Dublin, Werburgh Street theater, 1637-1639.
• The Constant Maid (Love Will Find Out the Way). Dublin, Werburgh Street theater(?), 1637-1640.
• St. Patrick for Ireland. Dublin, Werburgh Street theater, 1637-1640.
• The Doubtful Heir (Rosania, or Love's Victory). Dublin, Werburgh Street theater, 1638(?); London, Blackfriars theater, 1640.
• No Wit, No Help Like a Woman's (by Thomas Middleton, possibly revised by Shirley). Dublin, Werburgh Street theater, 1638.
• The Gentleman of Venice. Dublin, Werburgh Street theater, 1639(?); London, Salisbury Court theater, 1639.
• The Politician. Dublin, Werburgh Street theater, 1639(?); London, Salisbury Court theater, 1639(?).
• The Tragedy of St. Albans. unknown theater, before 1640.
• The Imposture London, Blackfriars theater, 1640.
• The Brothers (The Politic Father). London, Blackfriars theater, 1641.
• The Cardinal. London, Blackfriars theater, 1641.
• The Sisters. London, Blackfriars theater, 1642.
• The Court Secret. London, Blackfriars theater, "never acted but prepared for the scene," 1642; eventually performed London, Theatre Royal, 1664.
• The Triumph of Beauty. privately performed, before 1646.
• Cupid and Death. unknown location, 26 March 1653.
• Honoria and Mammon. possibly performed, before 1659.
• The Contention of Ajax and Ulysses for the Armor of Achilles. privately performed (at Shirley's grammar school?), before 1659.

Except where noted, information courtesy the Poetry Foundation.

See also

James Shirley "Death the Leveller - "The Glories of our Blood and State" Poem animation

• List of British poets
• List of English-language playwrights

References

• Adams, Joseph Quincy. Shakespeare's Playhouses. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1917.
•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). "Shirley, James". Encyclopædia Britannica. 24 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 1052-1053. . Web, Mar. 16, 2020.
• Logan, Terence P., and Denzell S. Smith, eds. The Later Jacobean and Caroline Dramatists: A Survey and Bibliography of Recent Studies in English Renaissance Drama. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1978.

External links

Poems

• Shirley in the Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900: "A Hymn," "Death the Leveller"
• James Shirley at the Poetry Foundation
• Sgirley, James (1596-1666) ("Cease, Warring Thoughts," "The Glories of our Blood and State") at Representative Poetry Online
• Shirley in The English Poets: An anthology: A Lullaby (from The Triumph of Beauty, a Masque), "The Garden" (from Poems), The Might of Death (from Cupid and Death, a Masque), A Dirge (from The Contention of Ajax and Ulysses)
• James Shirley at Poets' Corner
• James Shirley at AllPoetry (15 poems)
• James Shirley at PoemHunter (17 poems)
• James Shirley at Poetry Nook (55 poems)

Books

• Works by James Shirley at Project Gutenberg
• Dyce edition at Google Books
• James Shirley at Amazon.com

Audio / video

• James Shirley poems at YouTube

About

• James Shirley in the Encyclopædia Britannica
• James Shirley at NNDB
• James Shirley, Dramatist at Shirley Family Association
• James Shirley at Luminarium
• James Shirley in the Cambridge History of English and American Literature

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, the 1911 Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. Original article is as "James Shirley".