The Faithfull Shepheardesse

work by Fletcher

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June 26, 2026

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The Faithfull Shepheardesse is a pastoral tragicomedy written by John Fletcher, first published around 1609. It is considered one of Fletcher's best unaided plays and is known for its series of extraordinary situations and extreme attitudes, displayed through intense declamations.1

The play is an English adaptation of Battista Guarini's celebrated pastoral tragicomedy, Il pastor fido (The Faithful Shepherd). Fletcher's work, like Guarini's, is set in Arcadia and explores themes characteristic of the pastoral genre, though it is noted for sacrificing consistency and plausibility in characterization for the sake of dramatic effect and emotional intensity.21

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comedy
Sentimental comedy of the 17th and 18th centuries
…the publication of John Fletcher’s Faithfull Shepheardesse (c. 1608), an imitation of the Pastor fido, by the Italian poet Battista Guarini. In his Compendium of Tragicomic Poetry (1601), Guarini had argued the distinct nature of the genre, maintaining it to be a third poetic kind, different from either the comic…
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…the publication of John Fletcher’s Faithfull Shepheardesse (c. 1608), an imitation of the Pastor fido, by the Italian poet Battista Guarini. In his Compendium of Tragicomic Poetry (1601), Guarini had argued the distinct nature of the genre, maintaining it to be a third poetic kind, different from either the comic…
Read More