Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Cenci

Mark Sandy (University of Durham)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.06: English Writing and Culture of the Romantic Period, 1789-1837.
Vol. editors: Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Daniel Robinson (Widener University), Emily Rohrbach (University of Durham)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1819

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play
Poetry (any)

Resources

Save to Bookshelf

Before concluding his lyrical drama,

Prometheus Unbound

(see separate entry) Shelley turned his attention, between May and August 1819, to writing a tragic play entitled

The Cenci

. Unexpectedly, Shelley suspended composition of his drama when his son, William, was afflicted with a stomach infection that precipitated in the young boy's death on 7 June 1819. Shelley did not recommence authoring

The Cenci

until late June or early July but, certainly, by August his tragedy was being transcribed for the press and Glauco Masi, a Leghorn printer, had by 21 September 1819 produced 250 copies of the play in readiness for shipping to England.

Originally, Shelley harboured aspirations that his tragedy would be produced on the London stage and requested that Thomas Lovelace Peacock (1785-1866) submit,

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

847 words

Citation: Sandy, Mark. "The Cenci". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 August 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=1290, accessed 26 November 2024.]

Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Cenci

Dates

Places

Genres and Modes

Resources

Save this article

Leave Feedback