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Plays on the Passions

PETER DUTHIE (ESSAY DATE 2001)

SOURCE: Duthie, Peter. Introduction to Plays on the Passions, by Joanna Baillie, pp. 11-57. Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press, Ltd., 2001.

In the following excerpt from his introduction to Plays on the Passions, a modern edition of Volume 1 of the plays published in 1798, Duthie studies the plays’ socially progressive message and surveys critical reaction to the plays throughout history.

The 1798 edition as a text of social reform

Elizabeth Barrett Browning passionately declared Joanna Baillie to be “the first female poet in all senses in England.”¹ Catherine Burroughs, a modern critic, though not as expansive in her praise, honours Baillie as Romantic drama’s “mother” (Closet Stages 14). On the surface, Baillie’s work certainly encapsulated the new Romantic spirit. The...

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1. Introduction
2. Principal Works
3. Primary Sources
   1. Joanna Baillie (Essay Date 1798)
4. General Commentary
   1. E. J. Clery (Essay Date 2000)
5. Title Commentary
   1. Plays on the Passions
   2. Witchcraft
6. Further Reading