Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville

 

Thomas Norton (1532–1584) and Thomas Sackville (1536–1608)

1. Context

2. Thomas Norton

  • Born: 1532, London.
  • Profession: Lawyer, politician, translator, and writer.
  • Worked under the influence of Protestant ideals.
  • His literary career is not vast, but his fame rests mainly on co-authoring Gorboduc.
  • Other contribution: Translations of Calvinist works and religious writings.

3. Thomas Sackville

  • Born: 1536, into a noble family.
  • Statesman, poet, dramatist; later became Lord Buckhurst and eventually Earl of Dorset.
  • Sackville had a stronger literary presence than Norton.
  • Major literary works:

                                     i.          Induction and The Complaint of Henry, Duke of Buckingham (contributed to A Mirror for Magistrates, 1559).

                                    ii.          These poems are highly significant in the development of English blank verse and tragic themes.

                                  iii.          Known for melancholic, allegorical, and moral tone anticipating Spenser and Shakespeare.

4. Gorboduc (1561)

  • First performed at the Inner Temple for Elizabeth I.
  • First English tragedy written in blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter).
  • Plot: Based on Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae.

Ø  King Gorboduc divides his kingdom between his sons Ferrex and Porrex.

Ø  The brothers quarrel; Porrex kills Ferrex; their mother kills Porrex; rebellion and civil war follow.

Ø  Theme: Civil discord, anarchy, and the need for strong monarchy.

  • Significance:

v Imitates Seneca: use of chorus, dumb shows, long speeches, and moral reflections.

v Predecessor of later Elizabethan tragedy.

v Blank verse here is stiff and monotonous, but it paved the way for Marlowe’s mighty line and Shakespeare’s mastery.

 

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