Professor Gold posted the following response on 2/13/07:
It wasn’t his last play, but it was close to it — as the Preface to our edition notes, Henry VII and The Two Noble Kinsmen came later.
That same Preface notes that The Tempest has been read as Shakespeare’s “swan song,” but reports that scholars are now “suspicious” of readings that align Prospero’s renunciation of illusions with Shakespeare’s farewell to the stage. Of course, it’s a very tempting connection to make . . .
