London Plague of 1603 Closes the Theatres and Transforms English Literature
Poet involved
What happened
The plague epidemic of 1603 in London was one of the worst of the Elizabethan–Jacobean era, killing more than 30,000 people in the capital and forcing the prolonged closure of the public theatres. Transmitted by flea-borne Yersinia pestis, the epidemic struck at the very moment of Elizabeth I's death and James I's accession, coinciding with a period of intense artistic and political transition. The theatres remained closed for much of 1603–1604, depriving playwrights and poets of their primary income.
Literary impact
The 1603 plague closure drove writers toward printed publication as an alternative to theatrical performance. Shakespeare almost certainly wrote or revised Othello and Measure for Measure during plague-related closures, and many poets turned to dedicatory verse, pamphlets, and sonnet sequences during these enforced silences. Thomas Dekker's Wonderful Year (1603) is one of the most vivid literary responses to the plague itself. The flea's role in spreading disease thus repeatedly shaped the conditions of English literary production.
Source: Wikipedia
