Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia
Encyclopedia
The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia, also known simply as the Arcadia or the Old Arcadia, is a long prose work by Sir Philip Sidney
written towards the end of the sixteenth century, and later published in several versions. It is Sidney's most ambitious literary work, by far, and as significant in its own way as his sonnet
s. The work is a romance that combines pastoral elements with a mood derived from the Hellenistic model of Heliodorus
. In the work, that is, a highly idealized version of the shepherd's life adjoins (not always naturally) with stories of jousts, political treachery, kidnappings, battles, and rapes. As published, the narrative follows the Greek model: stories are nested within each other, and different storylines are intertwined.
, the Countess of Pembroke. This version is narrated in chronological order, with sets of poems separating the books from each other. It seems likely that Sidney finished this version while staying at Herbert's estate during a temporary eclipse at court in 1580.
In 1588, Fulke Greville appears to have appealed to Francis Walsingham
to prevent an unauthorized publication of parts of the original, as we learn from a letter that also serves as evidence for the circulation of Arcadia in manuscript form:
Sidney's original version was all but forgotten until 1908, when antiquarian
Bertram Dobell discovered that a manuscript of the Arcadia he had purchased differed from published editions. Dobell subsequently acquired two other manuscripts of the old Arcadia: one from the library of the Earl of Ashburnham
and one that had belonged to Sir Thomas Phillipps
. This version of the Arcadia was first published in 1912, in Albert Feuillerat's edition of Sidney's collected works.
After Sidney's death, his revised Arcadia was prepared for the press and published in two differing editions. Fulke Greville, in collaboration with Matthew Gwinne
and John Florio, edited and oversaw the publication of the 1590 edition, which ends in mid-scene and mid-sentence.
In 1593 Mary Herbert herself published an edition in which the original version supplements and concludes the part that Sidney revised. Later additions filled in gaps in the story, most notably the fifth edition of 1621, which included Sir William Alexander
's attempt to work over the gap between Sidney's two versions of the story. Other continuations and developments of Sidney's story were published separately.
The hybrid editions did not efface the difference between the highly artificial, hellenized revised portion and the straightforward conclusion Sidney wrote originally. Nevertheless, it was in this form that Sidney's work entered history and reached a wide readership.
: exposition, action, complication, reversal, catastrophe. This hybrid structure -- part prose romance
and part classical drama -- allows Sidney to contain the diverseness of romance within the cohesiveness of the dramatic arc. The work is often called "tragicomic" for its combination of a "serious" high plot centering on the princes and Duke Basilius's household and a "comic" low plot that centers on the steward Dametas's family. The standard modern edition of Old Arcadia, on which this synopsis is based, is edited by Jean Robertson (Clarendon: Oxford, 1973).
, Basilius, journeys to the oracle at Delphos and receives a bleak prediction: his daughters will be stolen by undesirable suitors, he will be cuckolded by his wife, and his throne will be usurped by a foreign state. Hoping to preempt this fate, Basilius entrusts the Arcadian government to his loyal subject, Philanax, and retires to a pastoral
lodge with his wife, Gynecia, their attractive daughters, Pamela and Philoclea, his boorish servant, Dametas, and the latter's repulsive wife and daughter, Miso and Mopsa. In a nearby city, Pyrocles and Musidorus pass the night; they are cousins, princes, and best friends, and are famous throughout Greece for their heroic exploits. Pyrocles, upon seeing a picture of Philoclea at a gallery, is overwhelmed by a passionate desire to see her in person. To that end, Pyrocles disguises himself as Cleophila, an "Amazonian lady
going about the world to practice feats of chivalry," and heads for Basilius's pastoral lodge, accompanied by the skeptical but loyal Musidorus. Deceived by Cleophila's feminine disguise, Basilius falls in love with her, and invites her to stay with the family. While Musidorus covertly observes this meeting, he is overwhelmed by a passionate love for the elder daughter, Pamela, and decides to disguise himself as a shepherd, Dorus, in order to gain access to her. When everyone congregates in an arbor to hear the shepherds sing, a lion and bear attack the party. Cleophila kills the lion, saving Philoclea; Dorus kills the bear, saving Pamela. Cleophila's manly puissance leads Gynecia to intuit Cleophila's male sex, while Philoclea forms an intense "sisterly" affection for Cleophila.
that Gynecia had intended for Cleophila, and dies. Gynecia becomes hysterical and self-incriminating, and offers herself up to justice as the murderer of her husband and the sovereign. Philanax, Basilius's loyal friend, arrives to investigate the duke's death and Pamela's flight, and becomes a zealous advocate for executing everyone associated with the death of Basilius. Meanwhile, Musidorus and Pamela fall captive to the attacking mob, but not before Musidorus kills and gruesomely maims several of them. Hoping for a reward for finding the fugitives, the mob heads for Basilius, but is intercepted and slaughtered by Philanax and his men, who take the captive Dorus and Pamela, who are now primary suspects in the duke's murder. Thus, Dorus (now "Palladius") joins Cleophila (now "Timopyrus") in prison. Pamela demands to be recognized as the new sovereign, but Philanax demands an interim period of investigation and burial before the succession is established. Meanwhile, the body politic erupts into a confused and "dangerous tumult" about political succession.
, Euarchus is devastated, but decides that justice trumps kinship, and with a heavy heart confirms their death sentence. Suddenly, groans are heard from Basilius's corpse and, to the surprise and delight of all, Basilius emerges from a deep coma. All are forgiven, the princes marry the princesses, and the book thus ends with a comic reversal, or peripeteia
, from justice and death to reconciliation and marriage.
borrowed from it for the Gloucester subplot of King Lear
; traces of the work's influence may also be found in Hamlet
and The Winter's Tale
. Other dramatizations also occurred: Samuel Daniel
's The Queen's Arcadia, John Day
's The Isle of Gulls
, Beaumont and Fletcher
's Cupid's Revenge
, the anonymous Mucedorus
, a play of the Shakespeare Apocrypha
, and, most overtly, in James Shirley
's The Arcadia
.
Sidney's book also inspired a number of partial imitators, such as his niece Lady Mary Wroth
's Urania, and continuations, the most famous perhaps being that by Anna Weamys
. These works, however, are as close to the "precious" style of seventeenth-century French romance as to the Greek and chivalric models that shape Sidney's work. The Arcadia also made a small appearance at a crucial moment in history. According to a widely told story, Charles I
quoted lines from the book, an excerpt termed "Pamela's Prayer," from a prayer of the heroine Pamela, as he mounted the scaffold to be executed. In Eikonoklastes
, John Milton
complains of the dead king's choice of a profane text for his final prayer; at the same time, he praised the book as among the best of its kind.
In the next century, Samuel Richardson
named the heroine of his first novel after Sidney's Pamela. Despite this mark of continued respect, however, the rise of the novel was making works like the Arcadia obsolete. By the beginning of the Romantic
era, its grand, artificial, vaguely euphuistic
style had made it thoroughly alien to more modern tastes. However, in the 20th century, the Latin American poet Giannina Braschi spins her own rendition of Arcadia in the trilogy "Empire of Dreams" which features the book "Pastoral; or the Inquisition of Memories".
While the original is still widely read, it was already becoming a text of primary interest to historians and literary specialists.
The Arcadia contains the earliest known use of the feminine personal name Pamela
. Most scholars believe that Sidney simply invented the name.
Philip Sidney
Sir Philip Sidney was an English poet, courtier and soldier, and is remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan Age...
written towards the end of the sixteenth century, and later published in several versions. It is Sidney's most ambitious literary work, by far, and as significant in its own way as his sonnet
Sonnet
A sonnet is one of several forms of poetry that originate in Europe, mainly Provence and Italy. A sonnet commonly has 14 lines. The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning "little song" or "little sound"...
s. The work is a romance that combines pastoral elements with a mood derived from the Hellenistic model of Heliodorus
Heliodorus
-People:Several persons named Heliodorus are known to us from ancient times, the best known of which are:*Heliodorus a minister of Seleucus IV Philopator ca...
. In the work, that is, a highly idealized version of the shepherd's life adjoins (not always naturally) with stories of jousts, political treachery, kidnappings, battles, and rapes. As published, the narrative follows the Greek model: stories are nested within each other, and different storylines are intertwined.
Composition and publication
Sidney's Arcadia has a history that is unusually complex even for its time.The Old Arcadia
Sidney may have begun an early draft in the late 1570s, when he was in his twenties. His own comments indicate that his purpose was humble; he asserts that he intended only to entertain his sister, Mary HerbertMary Sidney
Mary Herbert , Countess of Pembroke , was one of the first English women to achieve a major reputation for her literary works, poetry, poetic translations and literary patronage.-Family:...
, the Countess of Pembroke. This version is narrated in chronological order, with sets of poems separating the books from each other. It seems likely that Sidney finished this version while staying at Herbert's estate during a temporary eclipse at court in 1580.
In 1588, Fulke Greville appears to have appealed to Francis Walsingham
Francis Walsingham
Sir Francis Walsingham was Principal Secretary to Elizabeth I of England from 1573 until 1590, and is popularly remembered as her "spymaster". Walsingham is frequently cited as one of the earliest practitioners of modern intelligence methods both for espionage and for domestic security...
to prevent an unauthorized publication of parts of the original, as we learn from a letter that also serves as evidence for the circulation of Arcadia in manuscript form:
Sir this day one Ponsonby a bookbinder in Paul's Churchyard, came to me, and told me that there was one in hand to print, Sir Philip Sidney's old Arcadia asking me if it were done with your honour's con[sent] or any other of his friends/I told him to my knowledge no, then he advised me to give warning of it, either to the Archbishop or Doctor Cosen, who have as he says a copy of it to peruse to that end/Sir I am loath to renew his memory unto you, but yet in this I must presume, for I have sent my Lady your daughter at her request, a correction of that old one done 4 or 5 years since which he left in trust with me whereof there is no more copies, and fitter to be printed than that first which is so common, notwithstanding even that to be amended by a direction set down under his own hand how and why, so as in many respects especially the care of printing it is to be done with more deliberation,
Sidney's original version was all but forgotten until 1908, when antiquarian
Antiquarian
An antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient objects of art or science, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives and manuscripts...
Bertram Dobell discovered that a manuscript of the Arcadia he had purchased differed from published editions. Dobell subsequently acquired two other manuscripts of the old Arcadia: one from the library of the Earl of Ashburnham
Earl of Ashburnham
The title Baron Ashburnham , of Ashburnham in the County of Sussex, was created in the Peerage of England in 1689 for John Ashburnham, grandson of the John Ashburnham who assisted King Charles I to escape from Oxford and Hampton Court Palace...
and one that had belonged to Sir Thomas Phillipps
Thomas Phillipps
Sir Thomas Phillipps, 1st Baronet was an English antiquary and book collector who amassed the largest collection of manuscript material in the 19th century, due to his severe condition of bibliomania...
. This version of the Arcadia was first published in 1912, in Albert Feuillerat's edition of Sidney's collected works.
The New Arcadia
The version of the Arcadia known to the Renaissance and later periods is substantially longer than the Old Arcadia. In the 1580s, Sidney took the frame of the original story, reorganized it, and added episodes, most significantly the story of the just rebel Amphialus. The additions more than double the original story; however, Sidney had not finished the revision at the time of his death in 1586.After Sidney's death, his revised Arcadia was prepared for the press and published in two differing editions. Fulke Greville, in collaboration with Matthew Gwinne
Matthew Gwinne
-Life:He was of Welsh descent, son of Edward Gwinne, grocer, and was born in London. On 28 April 1570 he entered Merchant Taylors' School. He was elected to a scholarship at St. John's College, Oxford, in 1574, and afterwards became a fellow there. He proceeded B.A. 14 May 1578, and M.A. 4 May 1582...
and John Florio, edited and oversaw the publication of the 1590 edition, which ends in mid-scene and mid-sentence.
In 1593 Mary Herbert herself published an edition in which the original version supplements and concludes the part that Sidney revised. Later additions filled in gaps in the story, most notably the fifth edition of 1621, which included Sir William Alexander
William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling
William Alexander, Earl of Stirling was a Scotsman who was an early developer of Scottish colonisation of Port Royal, Nova Scotia and Long Island, New York...
's attempt to work over the gap between Sidney's two versions of the story. Other continuations and developments of Sidney's story were published separately.
The hybrid editions did not efface the difference between the highly artificial, hellenized revised portion and the straightforward conclusion Sidney wrote originally. Nevertheless, it was in this form that Sidney's work entered history and reached a wide readership.
Synopsis of the Old Arcadia
Although Old Arcadia has never suffered the indignity of too much popularity, it has entertained a small set of readers for over 400 years with its sensational treatment of sex, politics, violence, soporifics, mobs, and cross-dressing. Narrated in sprawling Renaissance prose, the romance comprises five "books or acts," organized according to the five-part structure of classical dramaturgyDramatic structure
Dramatic structure is the structure of a dramatic work such as a play or film. Many scholars have analyzed dramatic structure, beginning with Aristotle in his Poetics...
: exposition, action, complication, reversal, catastrophe. This hybrid structure -- part prose romance
Romance (genre)
As a literary genre of high culture, romance or chivalric romance is a style of heroic prose and verse narrative that was popular in the aristocratic circles of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a knight errant portrayed as...
and part classical drama -- allows Sidney to contain the diverseness of romance within the cohesiveness of the dramatic arc. The work is often called "tragicomic" for its combination of a "serious" high plot centering on the princes and Duke Basilius's household and a "comic" low plot that centers on the steward Dametas's family. The standard modern edition of Old Arcadia, on which this synopsis is based, is edited by Jean Robertson (Clarendon: Oxford, 1973).
Book I
In Book I, the Duke of ArcadiaArcadia
Arcadia is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Peloponnese. It is situated in the central and eastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. It takes its name from the mythological character Arcas. In Greek mythology, it was the home of the god Pan...
, Basilius, journeys to the oracle at Delphos and receives a bleak prediction: his daughters will be stolen by undesirable suitors, he will be cuckolded by his wife, and his throne will be usurped by a foreign state. Hoping to preempt this fate, Basilius entrusts the Arcadian government to his loyal subject, Philanax, and retires to a pastoral
Pastoral
The adjective pastoral refers to the lifestyle of pastoralists, such as shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasturage. It also refers to a genre in literature, art or music that depicts such shepherd life in an...
lodge with his wife, Gynecia, their attractive daughters, Pamela and Philoclea, his boorish servant, Dametas, and the latter's repulsive wife and daughter, Miso and Mopsa. In a nearby city, Pyrocles and Musidorus pass the night; they are cousins, princes, and best friends, and are famous throughout Greece for their heroic exploits. Pyrocles, upon seeing a picture of Philoclea at a gallery, is overwhelmed by a passionate desire to see her in person. To that end, Pyrocles disguises himself as Cleophila, an "Amazonian lady
Amazons
The Amazons are a nation of all-female warriors in Greek mythology and Classical antiquity. Herodotus placed them in a region bordering Scythia in Sarmatia...
going about the world to practice feats of chivalry," and heads for Basilius's pastoral lodge, accompanied by the skeptical but loyal Musidorus. Deceived by Cleophila's feminine disguise, Basilius falls in love with her, and invites her to stay with the family. While Musidorus covertly observes this meeting, he is overwhelmed by a passionate love for the elder daughter, Pamela, and decides to disguise himself as a shepherd, Dorus, in order to gain access to her. When everyone congregates in an arbor to hear the shepherds sing, a lion and bear attack the party. Cleophila kills the lion, saving Philoclea; Dorus kills the bear, saving Pamela. Cleophila's manly puissance leads Gynecia to intuit Cleophila's male sex, while Philoclea forms an intense "sisterly" affection for Cleophila.
Book II
In Book II, the action rises as the romantic relationships become increasingly complicated, and as Basilius's retirement foments political unrest. Cleophila struggles to woo Philoclea while simultaneously placating the jealous Basilius and Gynecia. Meanwhile, Dorus, who has ingratiated himself to Dametas and entered his household as a shepherd-servant, struggles to woo Pamela, who is always accompanied by Dametas's vain and ugly daughter, Mopsa. To avoid raising suspicions that he loves Pamela, Dorus addresses all of his significant looks, sighing, singing, poetry, etc. to Mopsa, who laps it up and fails to notice the heavy-handed hints that Pamela, not Mopsa, is the object of his passion. In an extremely complicated piece of hoodwinking, Dorus reveals his identity to Pamela, proposes elopement, and is elated by the princess's willingness to flee Arcadia with him. Meanwhile, Cleophila manages to reveal his identity to Philoclea, and they declare their mutual love. Their idyll is interrupted by a mob of drunken Arcadian rabble who are angry at Basilius for neglecting his sovereign obligations. Cleophila, Basilius, Dorus and friendly shepherds slaughter much of the mob before finally subduing it. Book II ends with the establishment of the unusual love "square" in which father, mother and daughter are all violently in love with the cross-dressed Pyrocles/Cleophila, and the love triangle comprising Mopsa, Pamela and Dorus. It also begins the political theme, expanded in the fourth and fifth books, concerning the implications of negligent government.Book III
In Book III, Musidorus tells Pyrocles of his intentions to elope with Pamela. Pyrocles despairs of his own success with Philoclea because he is under the constant surveillance of the jealous and enamored Basilius and Gynecia. Dorus's elopement strategy begins by distracting Pamela's guardians: he tricks Dametas into wasting a day on a bogus treasure hunt; he dispatches Miso by telling her Dametas is cheating on her with a woman in an adjacent village, and he leaves Mopsa up in a tree waiting for a sign from Jove. The coast cleared, Dorus and Pamela head for the nearest seaport. While resting, Dorus is overcome by her beauty and is about to rape her when they are suddenly attacked by another mob. Meanwhile, Gynecia's passion has become desperate and she threatens to expose Cleophila's identity if he does not requite her love. To distract Gynecia, Cleophila pretends to requite her love, which aggravates Basilius and Philoclea. In an ill-fated bed-trick, Cleophila promises a nocturnal assignation to both Gynecia and Basilius in a nearby cave, intending to trick the husband and wife into sleeping with each other (hoping they won't notice that the other is not Cleophila) and to enjoy a night alone with Philoclea. Book III ends with a double "climax": the attempted rape of Pamela by Dorus, and the consummated union of Pyrocles and Philoclea.Book IV
In Book IV, Dorus and Cleophila suffer a major reversal of fortune. Dametas, Miso and Mopsa return to the lodge to find Pamela missing, and Dametas, fearing punishment for neglecting his royal ward, begins a frantic search for Pamela. Supposing her to be with her sister, Philoclea, Dametas barges into Philoclea's bed chamber and finds, of course, not Pamela, but "Cleophila," who is naked and in bed with Philoclea, and who is evidently not a woman. Dametas bolts the lovers inside and sounds the alarum. In the cave, Gynecia and Basilius, each thinking the other is Cleophila, have sex, but recognize each other in the morning. Basilius accidentally drinks a potionDate rape drug
A date rape drug is any drug that can be used to assist in the execution of a sexual assault, such as date rape. Drugs used to facilitate rape may have sedative, hypnotic, dissociative, and/or amnesiac effects, and can be added to a food or drink without the victim's knowledge.The act of adding...
that Gynecia had intended for Cleophila, and dies. Gynecia becomes hysterical and self-incriminating, and offers herself up to justice as the murderer of her husband and the sovereign. Philanax, Basilius's loyal friend, arrives to investigate the duke's death and Pamela's flight, and becomes a zealous advocate for executing everyone associated with the death of Basilius. Meanwhile, Musidorus and Pamela fall captive to the attacking mob, but not before Musidorus kills and gruesomely maims several of them. Hoping for a reward for finding the fugitives, the mob heads for Basilius, but is intercepted and slaughtered by Philanax and his men, who take the captive Dorus and Pamela, who are now primary suspects in the duke's murder. Thus, Dorus (now "Palladius") joins Cleophila (now "Timopyrus") in prison. Pamela demands to be recognized as the new sovereign, but Philanax demands an interim period of investigation and burial before the succession is established. Meanwhile, the body politic erupts into a confused and "dangerous tumult" about political succession.
Book V
Book V brings the action to its catastrophe. Philanax struggles to maintain order in Arcadia, which is dangerously divided: some factions support various political climbers, others clamor for democratic government, and some call for the election of the two princes, whose good looks and military prowess had made them very popular. Philanax needs a leader capable of commanding the allegiance of the Arcadians and of bringing justice to Basilius's murderers. Luckily, the sovereign most renowned for his wise and just government, Euarchus of Thessalia, has traveled to Arcadia to visit his good friend Basilius. Euarchus is also the father of Pyrocles and uncle of Musidorus, but has no idea what they have been up to. Philanax persuades the reluctant Eurarchus to aid Arcadia by assuming authority for the present and becoming the state's "protector." The book concludes with a lengthy trial scene. Gynecia, "Palladius" and "Timopyrus" are brought forth to stand before Euarchus, who presides as judge, and Philanax, who argues on behalf of the apparently murdered Basilius. Gynecia's trial goes quickly because she, overcome by grief, wants to die as quickly as possible, and gives a false confession of intentionally poisoning her husband and sovereign. Euarchus sentences her to death by being entombed alive with Basilius. "Timopyrus" is tried next, and Philanax delivers a vituperative oratory condemning him for cross-dressing, for raping Philoclea, and for conspiring with Gynecia to murder Basilius; "Timopyrus" is acquitted of the murder charges, but is sentenced to death for raping Philoclea. "Palladius" is likewise condemned to death for attempted theft of the royal daughter, Pamela. As the convicts are escorted to their executions, a friendly compatriot of Musidorus suddenly arrives with important information. He has heard about the trial, guessed the princes' true identities, and feels Euarchus should know that he has condemned his own son and nephew to death (for various reasons, the identities of Euarchus and the princes has been hitherto obscured). At this moment of recognition, or anagnorisisAnagnorisis
Anagnorisis is a moment in a play or other work when a character makes a critical discovery. Anagnorisis originally meant recognition in its Greek context, not only of a person but also of what that person stood for...
, Euarchus is devastated, but decides that justice trumps kinship, and with a heavy heart confirms their death sentence. Suddenly, groans are heard from Basilius's corpse and, to the surprise and delight of all, Basilius emerges from a deep coma. All are forgiven, the princes marry the princesses, and the book thus ends with a comic reversal, or peripeteia
Peripeteia
Peripeteia is a reversal of circumstances, or turning point. The term is primarily used with reference to works of literature. The English form of peripeteia is peripety. Peripety is a sudden reversal dependent on intellect and logic...
, from justice and death to reconciliation and marriage.
Reputation and influence
The work enjoyed great popularity for more than a century after its publication. William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
borrowed from it for the Gloucester subplot of King Lear
King Lear
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
; traces of the work's influence may also be found in Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
and The Winter's Tale
The Winter's Tale
The Winter's Tale is a play by William Shakespeare, originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, some modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some critics, among them W. W...
. Other dramatizations also occurred: Samuel Daniel
Samuel Daniel
Samuel Daniel was an English poet and historian.-Early life:Daniel was born near Taunton in Somerset, the son of a music-master. He was the brother of lutenist and composer John Danyel. Their sister Rosa was Edmund Spenser's model for Rosalind in his The Shepherd's Calendar; she eventually married...
's The Queen's Arcadia, John Day
John Day (dramatist)
John Day was an English dramatist of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods.-Life:He was born at Cawston, Norfolk, and educated at Ely. He became a sizar of Caius College, Cambridge, in 1592, but was expelled in the next year for stealing a book...
's The Isle of Gulls
The Isle of Gulls
The Isle of Gulls is a Jacobean era stage play written by John Day, a comedy that caused a scandal upon its premiere in 1606.The play was most likely written in 1605; it was acted by the Children of the Revels at the Blackfriars Theatre in February 1606. It was published later in 1606, in a quarto...
, Beaumont and Fletcher
Beaumont and Fletcher
Beaumont and Fletcher were the English dramatists Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, who collaborated in their writing during the reign of James I ....
's Cupid's Revenge
Cupid's Revenge
Cupid's Revenge is a Jacobean tragedy written by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher. It was a popular success that influenced subsequent works by other authors.-Date and performance:...
, the anonymous Mucedorus
Mucedorus
Mucedorus is an Elizabethan play, performed up until the Restoration and surviving in seventeen quartos, making it the most widely printed extant play from the time...
, a play of the Shakespeare Apocrypha
Shakespeare Apocrypha
The Shakespeare Apocrypha is a group of plays that have sometimes been attributed to William Shakespeare, but whose attribution is questionable for various reasons...
, and, most overtly, in James Shirley
James Shirley
James Shirley was an English dramatist.He 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...
's The Arcadia
The Arcadia (play)
The Arcadia is James Shirley's dramatization of the prose romance, The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia by Sir Philip Sidney — one expression of the enormous influence that Sidney's work exercised during the 17th century. Shirley's stage version was first published in 1640.The 1640 quarto was...
.
Sidney's book also inspired a number of partial imitators, such as his niece Lady Mary Wroth
Lady Mary Wroth
Lady Mary Wroth was an English poet of the Renaissance. A member of a distinguished literary English family, Wroth was among the first female British writers to have achieved an enduring reputation...
's Urania, and continuations, the most famous perhaps being that by Anna Weamys
Anna Weamys
Anna Weamys, sometimes referred to as Anne Weamys was an English author. Little is known of her life, but Weamys has been identified as the author of A Continuation of Sir Philip Sydney's Arcadia , which appeared under the name 'Mrs A...
. These works, however, are as close to the "precious" style of seventeenth-century French romance as to the Greek and chivalric models that shape Sidney's work. The Arcadia also made a small appearance at a crucial moment in history. According to a widely told story, Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
quoted lines from the book, an excerpt termed "Pamela's Prayer," from a prayer of the heroine Pamela, as he mounted the scaffold to be executed. In Eikonoklastes
Eikonoklastes
Eikonoklastes is a book by John Milton, published October 1649. In it he provides a justification for the execution of Charles I, which had taken place on 30 January 1649. The book's title is taken from the Greek, and means "iconoclast" or "breaker of the icon", and refers to Eikon Basilike, a...
, John Milton
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
complains of the dead king's choice of a profane text for his final prayer; at the same time, he praised the book as among the best of its kind.
In the next century, Samuel Richardson
Samuel Richardson
Samuel Richardson was an 18th-century English writer and printer. He is best known for his three epistolary novels: Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded , Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady and The History of Sir Charles Grandison...
named the heroine of his first novel after Sidney's Pamela. Despite this mark of continued respect, however, the rise of the novel was making works like the Arcadia obsolete. By the beginning of the Romantic
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
era, its grand, artificial, vaguely euphuistic
Euphuism
Euphuism is a peculiar mannered style of English prose. It takes its name from a prose romance by John Lyly. It consists of a preciously ornate and sophisticated style, employing in deliberate excess a wide range of literary devices such as antitheses, alliterations, repetitions and rhetorical...
style had made it thoroughly alien to more modern tastes. However, in the 20th century, the Latin American poet Giannina Braschi spins her own rendition of Arcadia in the trilogy "Empire of Dreams" which features the book "Pastoral; or the Inquisition of Memories".
While the original is still widely read, it was already becoming a text of primary interest to historians and literary specialists.
The Arcadia contains the earliest known use of the feminine personal name Pamela
Pamela (name)
Pamela is a feminine given name. Pamela is commonly abbreviated to Pam. Pamela is infrequently used as a surname.-Background:Sir Philip Sidney invented the name Pamela for a pivotal character in his epic prose work, The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia, written in the late 16th century and published...
. Most scholars believe that Sidney simply invented the name.