Early R

In a

22 of

pied himself after his arrival there, are not known. By 1592 he had become successful enough at play-writing to arouse the jealousy of one Robert Greene. pamphlet called A Groatsworth of Wit Greene alludes to Shakspere as an upstart crow," who has beautified himself with the feathers of Greene, and other successful dramatists. The following year appeared the poet's first published work, the narrative poem Venus and Adonis,

66

in the

ly fr

with a dedication signed with the poet's name; and in 1594 came Lucrece.

The next bit of fact comes from the Stratford records, from which we learn that the poet's only son died in August, 1596. The year following Shakspere bought the largest house in Stratford; and from this time to his death he was conspicuous in the life of the town, not so much because of his artistic as because of his financial

success.

Text of the Plays. Of the thirty-seven plays included in Shakspere's complete works, only sixteen were published during his lifetime. There is no evidence that he sanctioned the publication of any one of them. If he did not do so, it

From the First Folio.

was because his
plays were written
to be acted by his
own company, and
could be performed
exclusively by it
only so long as the
text could be kept
from rival compa-
nies.

For the remain-
ing plays we are
dependent on what
is called the "First
Folio," a collec-
tion of the plays
published in 1623,
seven years after
Shakspere's death.
There is no manu-
script of any play

extant. This combination of circumstances indicates why many passages in the plays are either not entirely clear or are even quite unintelligible: the most accurate text we have is in books rather carelessly printed, which the author had no opportunity to correct or revise.

In six of

After many

Je to lead

Uncertainties regarding Elizabethan Writers. the thirty-seven plays bearing Shakspere's name it is very