John Suckling, The Goblins

Glyn Pursglove (Swansea University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.04: English Writing and Culture of the Seventeenth Century, 1625-1688.
Vol. editors: Jennifer Brady (Rhodes College), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Neil Forsyth (Université de Lausanne), Claire Preston (Queen Mary, University of London), J A Roe (University of York), Virginia Mason Vaughan (Clark University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1646

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play

Resources

The Goblins cannot be dated with certainty, but an allusion to Suckling's own “Sessions of the Poets” or “The Wits” suggest a date after the summer of 1637; in August 1641 it appears in a list of plays belonging to the King's Men of which the Lord Chamberlain forbade the printing without permission of the company. Dryden observed that in The Goblins Suckling “followed [Shakespeare's] footsteps . . . his Regnella [sic] being an open imitation of Shakespear's Miranda; and his Spirits, though counterfeit, yet are copied from Ariel“. Suckling's character is actually called Reginella and the resemblances to The Tempest are not as absolute as Dryden suggests; still Dryden's remarks are …

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326 words

Citation: Pursglove, Glyn. "The Goblins". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 October 2000 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=749, accessed 25 November 2024.]

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