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Shakespeare on Stage
American Shakespeare Center, The Duchess of Malfi. To Jun. 15, 2013.
American Shakespeare Center, Return to the Forbidden Planet. To Dec. 1, 2013.
Folger Shakespeare Library, Twelfth Night. To Jun. 9, 2013.
American Shakespeare Center, Love's Labour's Lost. To Jun. 15, 2013.
American Shakespeare Center, Twelfth Night. To Jun. 16, 2013.
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Sources for the romances and poems

Click on the play to open a popup that summarizes the sources Shakespeare used in composing each play or poem.

Romances

Narrative poems

Footnotes

  1. Pericles, Prince of Tyre

    Sources:

    • Confessio Amantis, John Gower (1554) - Book VIII
    • The Patterne of Painefull Adventures, Laurence Twine (1594?)

    Analogues:

    • The Countesse of Pembroke's Arcadia, Sir Philip Sidney (1590)
    • The Painfull Adventures of Pericles Prince of Tyre, George Wilkins (1608)

    • The Orator, Alexander Silvayn; translated by Lazarus Piot (1596)

  2. Cymbeline

    Sources:

    • The First Volume of Chronicles, Raphael Holinshed (1587) - "The Second Booke of the Historie of England," "Mulmutius Dunwallow," "Julius Caesar in Difficulties," and "Cymbeline and Guiderius"
    • The Description and Historie of Scotland, Raphael Holinshed (Chronicles, 1587 edn.)
    • Frederyke of Jenne, Anon. (1560)
    • The Decameron, Giovanni Boccaccio - Day II, Nov. 9

    Probable source:

    • The Rare Triumphes of Love and Fortune, Anon. (1589)

    Analogues:

    • Eufemia: A Comedy, Lope de Rueda (1567)
    • Certains Tragicall Discources of Bandello; translated by Geoffrey Fenton (1567)
    • Jerusalem Delivered, Torquato Tasso; translated by Edward Fairfax (1600) - Book VII, Book VIII, Book XIX

  3. The Winter's Tale

    Sources:

    • Pandosto. The Triumphe of Time, Robert Greene (1588)
    • The Second Part of Conny-catching, and The Third Part of Conny-catching, R[obert] G[reene] (1592)
    • Metamorphoses, Ovid; translated by Arthur Golding (1567) - Book X

    Probable source:

    • The Fisherman's Tale and Flora's Fortune, Francis Sabie (1595)

    Possible sources:

    • Mucedorus, Anon. (1610 edn)
    • Humour Out of Breath, John Day (1608)
    • The Ninth Book of Amadis de Gaule, F. de Silva; translated by C. Colet (1577)

    Analogues:

    • The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia, Sir Philip Sidney (1590)
    • Parismenos, Emmanuel Forde, (1609 edn.)
    • The History of the Tryall of Chevalry, Anon. (1605)

  4. The Tempest

    Probable source:s

    • A true Declaration of the estate of the Colonie in Virginia,...(1610)
    • A True and sincere declaration of the purpose and ends of the Plantation begun in Virginia (1610)

    Possible sources:

    • Hymenaei, A Masque, Ben Jonson (1606)
    • Colloquia: The Shipwreck, a Dialogue, Desiderius Erasmus; translated by W. B[urton] (1606)

    Analogues:

    • The first part of the Mirrour of Knighthood; translated by M. T[yler] (1578)
    • The third part of the First Book of the Mirrour of Knighthood; translated by R. Parry (1586?)
    • The Fair Sidea, Jacob Ayrer (1618)
    • A Most Pleasant Comedie of Mucedorus, Anon. (1598)
    • John a Kent and John a Cumber, Anthony Munday (1594)
    • The Three Satyrs, A Pastoral Tale, Anon. (early seventeenth century)

  5. The Two Noble Kinsmen

  6. Venus and Adonis

    Source:

    • Metamorphoses, Ovid, translated by Arthur Golding (1575). Lines 585-651; 826-863 - Lib X (Venus and Adonis), Lib. IV (Salmacis and Hermaphroditus) and Lib. III (Narcissus)

  7. The Rape of Lucrece

    Sources:

    • Fasti II, Ovid
    • The Pallace of Pleasure, William Painter (1566) - The Second Novell

    Probable source:

    • The Legende of Good Women, Geoffrey Chaucer