Editing Shakespeare's late romances (section)

==Criticism==
Because of the shift in style, as well as Shakespeare's physical state, there has been much debate about why the late plays were written as they were. Dowden created a biographical view that suggested that Shakespeare was suffering from depression when he wrote his tragedies, and had worked his way out of it to create the romances. [[E. K. Chambers|Sir{{space}}Edmund Chambers]] suggested that he suffered a breakdown while writing ''Timon of Athens,'' and the romances reflect a kind of psychological convalescence. [[Clifford Leech]] viewed the romances as infected with a kind of fantastical puritanism that came from Shakespeare's personal revulsion from sex. D G James believed that Shakespeare ran out of poetic energy as he got older.<ref name=smith/> Raphael Lyne comments that it is impossible to show that Shakespeare managed his career to this extent, and there is no pressing need to consider these works as anything other than coincidentally "late".<ref>Lyne, p. ?</ref> There is a belief among some scholars that the late plays deal with faith and redemption, and are variations on themes of rewarding virtue over vice.<ref>Semon, Kenneth J. [http://mlq.dukejournals.org/content/35/4/423.full.pdf+html "Review: ''Time, Tide, and Tempest: A Study of Shakespeare's Romances''"], ''Modern Language Quarterly'', December 1974 35(4), pp. 423–426 {{subscription required}}</ref>

[[G. Wilson Knight]] was among those critics to argue that the late romances embody, together with the high tragedies or even above them, Shakespeare's greatest achievement. [[Harold Bloom]] says of ''The Winter's Tale'' that in it Shakespeare returns to his full talent and genius with full force.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}