John Fletcher’s Followers (20)

John Fletcher

Born

Rye, Sussex, England

Genre

Theatre, Poetry

edit data

John Fletcher (1579-1625) was an English playwright and one of the most prolific and influential dramatists of the early seventeenth century, whose career bridged the Elizabethan theatrical tradition and the drama of the Stuart Restoration. He emerged as a major figure in London theatre in the first decade of the 1600s, initially writing for the Children of the Queen’s Revels and soon becoming closely associated with the King’s Men. Fletcher’s early education at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, appears to have prepared him for a clerical career, but like many of the university-trained writers of his generation he gravitated instead toward the commercial stage. His rise was closely tied to his celebrated partnership with Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher (1579-1625) was an English playwright and one of the most prolific and influential dramatists of the early seventeenth century, whose career bridged the Elizabethan theatrical tradition and the drama of the Stuart Restoration. He emerged as a major figure in London theatre in the first decade of the 1600s, initially writing for the Children of the Queen’s Revels and soon becoming closely associated with the King’s Men. Fletcher’s early education at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, appears to have prepared him for a clerical career, but like many of the university-trained writers of his generation he gravitated instead toward the commercial stage. His rise was closely tied to his celebrated partnership with Francis Beaumont, with whom he developed a distinctive form of tragicomedy that proved enormously popular. Their collaboration produced several of the period’s most successful plays, including Philaster, The Maid’s Tragedy, and A King and No King, works that helped define Jacobean taste through their blend of romance, political tension, and emotional intensity. Following Beaumont’s withdrawal from writing, Fletcher became increasingly central to the King’s Men and, after the death of William Shakespeare, effectively succeeded him as the company’s principal playwright. During this period he collaborated with Shakespeare on plays such as Henry VIII and The Two Noble Kinsmen, while also producing a large body of work either alone or with other dramatists, most notably Philip Massinger. Fletcher’s drama is marked by technical fluency, flexible verse, and a keen sense of theatrical pacing, and he showed particular mastery in tragicomedy and comedy of manners, genres that would dominate the Restoration stage. Although some of his early experiments, such as The Faithful Shepherdess, initially failed to find an audience, he quickly adapted his style and achieved sustained popularity, with multiple plays performed at court and revived frequently after his death. During the Commonwealth, scenes from his works circulated widely as short theatrical drolls, and following the reopening of the theatres in 1660, Fletcher’s plays were staged more often than those of any other playwright. Over time, however, his reputation declined as Shakespeare’s stature grew, and by the eighteenth century only a handful of his comedies remained in regular performance. Modern scholarship has emphasized both the scale of Fletcher’s output and the complexity of authorship within his canon, which reflects extensive collaboration and has prompted detailed stylistic analysis. Despite fluctuations in critical standing, Fletcher remains a key transitional figure in English drama, whose influence shaped both his contemporaries and the theatrical traditions that followed. ...more

Combine Editions
John Fletcher’s books

Average rating: 3.52 · 4,046 ratings · 578 reviews · 870 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Tamer Tamed; or, The Woman’s Prize by John Fletcher, Gary Taylor, Celia R. Daileader 3.33 avg rating — 425 ratings — published 1647 — 20 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Island Princess 3.14 avg rating — 273 ratings — published 1647 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Sea Voyage by John Fletcher, Philip Massinger 3.05 avg rating — 60 ratings — published 1647 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Faithful Shepherdess 3.53 avg rating — 30 ratings — published 1609 — 44 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Love's Cure, or The Martial Maid by John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, José Alberto Pérez Díez (Editor) 3.64 avg rating — 25 ratings — published 1718 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Custom of the Country 3.67 avg rating — 24 ratings — published 1647 — 29 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Bonduca 3.29 avg rating — 17 ratings — published 1647 — 26 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The False One A Tragedy 3.70 avg rating — 10 ratings — published 1647 — 28 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Mad Lover (The Works of Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, 3 of 10) 3.29 avg rating — 7 ratings — published 1617 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Valentinian 3.83 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 1614 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by John Fletcher…

Quotes by John Fletcher (?)

“Great Actions speak Great Minds.”
― John Fletcher

8 likes

“Deeds, not words shall speak me.”
― John Fletcher

4 likes

“Our acts our Angels are, for good or ill, our fatal shadows that walk by us still.”
― John Fletcher

2 likes

See all John Fletcher's quotes »

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
The Classics: Lost Literature	9	40	Oct 26, 2010 09:29AM
Should Hamlet be updated?	66	353	Apr 16, 2015 04:14AM
English Mysteries...: Today in Literature	905	540	May 04, 2015 04:44PM
Goodreads Librari...: Please Combine Editions?	913	360	Nov 14, 2019 10:54AM
Around the World ...: Samy's 2020 Magic Squares	11	69	Jun 06, 2020 09:22PM
Goodreads Librari...: Combine editions	932	275	Dec 09, 2020 01:41AM
Goodreads Librari...: Clean up VI	1025	959	Feb 17, 2021 02:47PM
Goodreads Librari...: Please combine	990	303	Oct 11, 2021 08:46PM
Goodreads Librari...: Large Print IV	405	199	Feb 19, 2022 02:34PM
All About Books: * This Day in Literary History	7185	1475	Apr 27, 2022 11:10PM

More…

Is this you? Let us know. If not, help out and invite John to Goodreads.

John Fletcher’s Followers (20)

John Fletcher

Combine EditionsJohn Fletcher’s books

Topics Mentioning This Author

Combine Editions
John Fletcher’s books