AustLit logo

AustLit

image of person or book cover 2370578744928672378.jpg
Source: Wikipedia
W. S. Gilbert (International) assertion W. S. Gilbert i(A62107 works by) (a.k.a. Sir William Schwenck Gilbert)
This international person/organisation [strike out not applicable] is included in AustLit to identify a relationship with Australian literature.
Born: Established: 18 Nov 1836 London,
c
England,
c
c
United Kingdom (UK),
c
Western Europe, Europe, ; Died: Ceased: 29 May 1911 London,
c
England,
c
c
United Kingdom (UK),
c
Western Europe, Europe,
Gender: Male
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

BiographyHistory

W. S. Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his collaboration with he composer Sir Arthur Sullivan on a series of comic operas (known as the Savoy operas). The most famous of these are H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado. His creative output included over 75 plays and libretti, numerous stories, poems, lyrics, the Bab Ballads (an extensive collection of light verse accompanied by his own comical drawings) and various other comic and serious pieces.

Gilbert's plays and realistic style of stage direction inspired other dramatists, including Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw. According to The Cambridge History of English and American Literature, Gilbert's 'lyrical facility and his mastery of metre raised the poetical quality of comic opera to a position that it had never reached before and has not reached since.'

Most Referenced Works

Notes

  • W. S. Gilbert is included in AustLit because a number of his works have been staged in Australia since the colonial era, either in their original form or as localised adaptations.

Last amended 6 Jan 2021 12:06:00
See Also
Arthur Seymour Sullivan
Other mentions of "" in AustLit:
    X