Project Gutenberg 2015-08-15 Public domain in the USA. 323 Gayley, Charles Mills 1858 1932 Representative English Comedies, v. 1. From the beginnings to Shakespeare Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Eleni Christofaki and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) "Representative English Comedies, v. 1. From the beginnings to Shakespeare" by Charles Mills Gayley is a scholarly collection of historical comedies written in the early 20th century. This volume aims to present a curated selection of significant English comedies from their origins through to the works of Shakespeare, accompanied by critical essays and historical analysis. The collection serves to illuminate the evolution and impact of comic drama on English literature and society. The opening of the book asserts the importance of early English comedies as reflections of social manners and historical perspectives, arguing that comedy serves as more than mere entertainment—it mirrors contemporary life and cultural ideals. Gayley introduces foundational elements of English comedy, tracing its evolution from liturgical performances and saints’ plays through to secular forms, emphasizing how these comedic roots laid the groundwork for future playwrights. He hints at a variety of content by discussing themes such as comedy’s relation to societal values and norms, setting the stage for a deeper exploration of the comedic works and their authors throughout the remainder of the collection. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 80.1 (6th grade). Easy to read. en English drama (Comedy) PR Text Browsing: Culture/Civilization/Society Browsing: Literature Browsing: Fiction Category: Plays/Films/Dramas Category: Classics of Literature Category: British Literature 2768075 2025-06-20T04:55:33.998285 text/html 2770502 2024-10-24T17:53:21 text/html 1668974 2025-06-20T04:56:45.339434 application/epub+zip 1697320 2025-06-20T04:55:49.317238 application/epub+zip 907537 2025-06-20T04:55:41.254270 application/epub+zip 2725082 2025-06-20T04:57:20.273261 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 2275257 2025-06-20T04:56:34.711501 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 1488182 2022-09-22T13:42:13.885866 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 1700849 2025-06-20T04:55:21.806335 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 1680685 2024-10-24T17:53:21 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 16552 2025-06-20T04:57:20.580244 application/rdf+xml 17079 2025-06-20T04:55:42.043253 image/jpeg 3208 2025-06-20T04:55:41.653234 image/jpeg 1417754 2025-06-20T04:55:34.230293 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia