Dramatic Scenes and Characters (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

W. L. Linton

Softcover

ISBN 10: 133100750X ISBN 13: 9781331007500

Publisher: Forgotten Books, 2018

Synopsis

Excerpt from Dramatic Scenes and Characters

Rule history is more important than poetry. Dismiss ing them, therefore, we come to the first English tragedy, Gorboduc, which was shown before the Queen's most excellent Majesty on the i8th of Janu ary, 1562, in her Highness' Court of Whitehall, by the Gentlemen of the Inner Temple. Many things went to the making of Gorboduc, the authors of which, Norton and Sackville, may be said to have been the first of a new race of poets, to whom was committed the torch of history lighted at the altar of antiquity by Geoffrey of Monmouth, and passed from hand to hand along the centuries, now flickering and now flaring triumphantly. The son of a small landed proprietor in Bedfordshire, a good scholar, and a zealous Protes tant, Norton entered himself in 1555 as a student of the Inner Temple. Born at Buckhurst, the son of a privy councillor and the daughter of a Lord Mayor, and connected with royalty through his grandmother, who was aunt to Anne Boleyn, the mother of Elizabeth, educated at Oxford, and later at Cambridge, where he received the degree of Master of Arts, Sackville also entered himself as a student of the Inner Temple, where he made the acquaintance of Norton. Both were young, and both addicted to letters, Norton to such serious walks as are implied in translating Cal vin's Institutes, and the Psalms in conjunction with Sternhold and Hopkins, and Sackville to the lighter walks implied in the composition of Latin and English verse.

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Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

About this title

Product Description

Excerpt from Dramatic Scenes and Characters The origin of the drama in English Verse must be sought in the twelfth century in the Miracle plays which were then in vogue, and by which the learned clerks who wrote them endeavored to entertain and instruct their unlearned countrymen through the scenic representation of Bible histories and legends of saints and martyrs. The characters in these rude compositions, of which a sufficiency, even for historical purposes, has reached us in the Chester, Coventry, and Wakefield Mysteries, were always actual personages. They were succeeded by a race of allegorical shadows in the Moralities, which began to appear early in the reign of Henry the Sixth, and which lingered upon the stage until after the death of Elizabeth. The golden age of this primitive drama was the reign of Henry the Eighth, and the master-spirits were Skelton and Heywood. Skelton wrote four pieces, one of which, Magnificence, a goodly interlude and a mery, may still be read in his works. It contains eighteen characters; is about the length of one of Shakespeare's plays; and, if somewhat heavy and inartificial, is not without vigor and earnestness. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Edition details

• Publisher: Forgotten Books
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 133100750X
• ISBN 13: 9781331007500
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 376