The Oxford Companion to English Literature | Troilus and Cressida
Troilus and Cressida, a tragedy by
Shakespeare
probably written
1602
, perhaps with a performance at one of the Inns of Court in mind. It was first printed
1609
, in a quarto of which there are two issues, with different title-pages, one of which has a prefatory epistle, ‘A never writer, to an ever reader. News.’ This was not included in the
First folio
, where Troilus and Cressida is the first play in the section of tragedies. As well as
Homer
's and
Chaucer
's handling of material concerning the lovers and the siege of Troy, Shakespeare knew of
Henryson's
Testament of Cresseid
,
Caxton
's Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, and
Lydgate
's Troy Book, and drew on
Ovid
's Metamorphoses Books 11 and 12,
R.
Greene
's Euphues His Censure to Philautus (
1587
) and
Chapman
's Seven Books of the Iliads (
1598
).
Shakespeare's
treatment of the...
[The entire page is 238 words long]
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