The Plays and Poetry of Nicholas Rowe, Part II

Nicholas Rowe (1674-1718) was the first Poet Laureate of the Georgian era. A fascinating yet largely overlooked figure in eighteenth-century literature, his plays are important both for the way they address the concerns of the day – religion, politics and gender – and for reflecting a period in which the theatre was in crisis. Pieces such as Tamerlane, The Fair Penitent and Jane Shore were to remain popular repertory pieces over the coming century – the last two being exemplary exercises in the sub-genre Rowe dubbed ‘She Tragedy’.

As well as his plays, Rowe wrote the first published biography of Shakespeare and translated Lucan’s Pharsalia (a work highly praised by Samuel Johnson), which was published posthumously due to Rowe’s early death.

This is the first scholarly edition of all Rowe’s plays and poems and will be of interest to those researching English drama of the early eighteenth-century and the literary culture of Whig Britain.