Critical Responses
Critics have generally not been kind to Montagu's work, calling it "tedious," "worthless," and "unintelligible." (Even Montagu's contemporary Sir John Suckling, a fellow follower of the Queen, ridiculed it; in one of Suckling's poems, Apollo asks Montagu if he understands his own work.) Alfred Harbage, in his seminal study Cavalier Drama, considered Montagu's masque typical of most of what is wrong with Cavalier drama. (Critics of Harbage have noted that he blamed Montagu for the faults in plays that were written and performed prior to The Shepherd's Paradise.) Despite its faults, Montagu's work did inspire a brief re-invigoration of the pastoral form in later Caroline drama.
Read more about this topic: The Shepherd's Paradise
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