ENGLISH LITERATURE IN VERSE PART FOUR: STORY OF DRAMA UPTO MARLOWE
Dear Readers, I present the next section of my story with the Elizabethan Era, considered the ‘golden age’ of literature, which blossomed and bloomed through its lyrical poetry
and the poetic drama ! In the previous section we had already entered the Elizabethan Age thorough the works of Edmund Spencer! The material of this Age being substantial, perforce I had to break up my entire composition into Two Sections; placing Marlowe in this second section ; and the Elizabethan Stage and Shakespeare as Part Five ! This is being composed for publishing for students & all interested readers who compose poetry in the English language! Hope you will like this simplified narration! Thanks -Raj Nandy.
STORY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE PART
FOUR (SECTION TWO): ELIZABETHAN
DRAMA UPTO MARLOW IN VERSE
**By Raj Nandy**
INTRODUCTION
In my previous Section One with Edmund Spencer,
We had stepped on to this ‘Golden Age’ of English Literature !
However, this story remains incomplete, without narrating the
Story of Drama and the ‘University Wits’!
Each of these ‘Wits’ contributed to the growth of English drama
as we shall see;
Chief among them being Christopher Marlowe, as all scholars
do agree!
Marlowe had shaped the ‘blank verse’ as the most important
expression for dramatic prose ,
And the spirit of the Elizabethan Era expressed itself through
this medium of unrhymed prose !
Drama, that hybrid between prose and lyrical poetry, became
the dominant form of entertainment complete ;
With all other mediums of literary expressions taking a back
seat !
Since the literature and poetry of every age is also influenced
by its socio-political History,
I shall paint a brief historical background of this 16th Century;
For your better appreciation of this true Story!
BRIEF HISTORY: 16th CENTURY ENGLAND
During 118 year’s rule by the Tudor Kings and Queens ,
Religion had been the chief cause of people’s suffering ;
As it had touched every aspect of their living being !
The Catholic England during Henry VIII’s reign, had
broken its bonds with the Catholic faith !
Henry rather desperate for a male heir for the throne ,
Sought the Pope’s blessings for divorcing Catherine of
Aragon ! (See Notes)
But having failed to obtain the same, made Cardinal Wolsey
take all the blame !
Soon Henry became the ‘Supreme Head of the Church of
England’,
And the ‘Act of Supremacy’ His Majesty’s power upheld !
England now became a Protestant country, and the monasteries
got dissolved subsequently!
Religious loyalties of people were put to test, till King Henry
was finally put to rest !
King Henry’s third wife Jane Seymour’s son prince Edward
succeeded him ;
But unfortunately Edward VI died at the tender age of sixteen!
Next came Mary Tudor the daughter of Catherine of Aragon;
A diehard Catholic- to the English throne !
Protestants were persecuted, around 300 were also burnt!
And the name of ‘Bloody Mary’ she had rightly earned !
Lady Jane Grey got executed, and young Elizabeth was
imprisoned ,
But ones destiny and fate can never be altered or changed !
Ann Boleyn’s daughter Elizabeth was chosen as the next
Queen ,
Though the Pope had refused to recognize Henry’s marriage
with Ann Boleyn !
Now England embraced the Protestant faith once again,
Displaying maturity and religious tolerance, Queen Elizabeth-I
began her reign !
William Cecil became her able Secretary and Lord Treasurer,
With Francis Walsingham’s espionage system to protect her !
The Queen required protection from Spain and the forces of
Counter-Reformation ,
And soon a plot was discovered for Elizabeth’s assassination;
With Mary Queen of Scots involvement and complication !
Mary’s execution and the subsequent defeat of the Spanish
Armada ,
Saw a resurgent national spirit enveloping their ‘Virgin Queen’,
who was Spencer’s ‘Gloriana’!
“Blest be the hearts that wish my sovereign well,
Curst be the souls that think her any wrong .”
- wrote George Peel the dramatist in dedication to his Queen
later on!
BRIEF HISTORY OF ENGLISH DRAMA
Mystery and Morality Plays :
The origins of drama goes back to ancient Greece with the
festivities of Dionysus;
The God of Life and Death, of Wine and the fertile Earth;
Who became the father of Greek Comedy and Tragedy giving
them birth !
The Roman drama, an offshoot of the Greek, during its later years,
Was suppressed by the Christian Church as decadent and pagan;
But this form got adopted by the Medieval Church once again,
To teach the ignorant masses the doctrine of truth and religion,
Through those colorful dramatic audio-visual presentation !
The Mystery and Miracle Plays enacted the stories from the
Bible, and the lives of Martyrs and Saints respectively;
And the vernacular language was better appreciated by the
illiterate masses of Medieval Society!
Plays enacted on Good Friday about Christ’s crucifixion, and
on Easter Sunday about his Christ’s resurrection;
Captivated the medieval mind with its emotional content !
So drama, being in the very ritual of the Church inherent,
Became a medium of instruction with amusement !
Meanwhile, with time as these enacted scenes became more
elaborate, and the churchyard became more congested,
The venue shifted to the market place or the village-green;
And in towns the Unions or Trade-Guilds took over and
intervened ! (14th century)
It became customary for each trade to enact a play according
to its particular craft;
When the carpenters presented the ‘Story of the Flood’, and
wine merchants the ‘Marriage at Cana’- displaying their dramatic
art !
The variety of subject matter made the Miracle Plays more popular
than the Mystery Plays;
With each big town having their own cycle of plays, –like the
York, Chester, and Coventry Cycle of plays !
Morality and Interludes :
The serious and the comic was interwoven in the Mystery and the
Miracle plays;
But with the Morality and the Interludes, these elements finally
parted ways !
Morality Plays were serious and didactic, with allegorical
characters like Vice, Sin, Grace, and Repentance !
While the Interludes on the lighter side of things, were aimed mainly
at amusement !
‘Everyman’ and the ‘Four P’s’ by John Heywood of the 16th
Century,
Are the finest examples of Morality and Interlude Plays -
respectively !
Earliest Tragedy and Comedy Plays:
As in ancient Greece, in England also Tragedy preceded
Comedy,
Where the influences of Italian Renaissance and the Classics
are seen !
We have seen how the native drama rose from the liturgical
plays,
As Mystery, Miracle, Moralities and Interludes, from its
earliest days;
Now went through a further period of development through
the writing of the ‘University Wits’,
Who used Seneca’s plays as a model for writing their scripts!
The Roman stoic Seneca during the first century AD, had
composed for his aristocratic audience many tragedies!
These plays had rhetoric, eloquence and melodrama for the
popular English taste ;
Also philosophy and wise maxims for the learned !
These now became ideal models for the ‘University Wits’,
Providing form and order on the native drama to fulfill their
needs !
Sackville and Norton composed the first English tragedy the
‘Gorboduc’, based on the Seneca’s model with its 5 Acts and
the Chorus !
‘Ralph Roister Doister’ by Nicholas Udall was the first English
Comedy,
Influenced by Plautus and Terence both writers of Classical
Comedy !
THE UNIVERSITY WITS :
They were learned scholars of Oxford and Cambridge who
founded the Elizabethan School of Drama preceding Shakespeare ;
Contributed to its progress while leading a stormy Bohemian life
without fear!
These ‘Wits’ were – John Lily, Robert Green, George Peele,
Thomas Lodge, and Christopher Marlowe;
Some of their salient contributions my narration shall now show!
John Lyly (1554-1606) the senior most of the ‘Wits’ was
Oxford educated ;
Lifted the language of Comedy and especially the Prose with
his literary touch - which was sophisticated !
The rough-and-tumble farcical comedies of earlier days now
receive an intellectual tone ;
And Lily’s amalgamation of humor with romantic imagination,
- Shakespeare follows later on!
In Lyly’s plays a blend of prose and poetry, is symbolic of
coming together of the worlds of romance and reality ;
And this same fusion in Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’ once
again we see !
Lyly’s most popular ‘Euphues:The Anatomy of Wit’, was a
prose romance employing devises of euphemism, alliteration,
antithesis and rhetorical questions;
Was popular with the Elizabethan Court as an intellectual
Renaissance fashion!
The puns, verbal pyrotechnics and farcical conceits are again
later seen,
In Shakespeare’s ‘Love’s Labor Lost’, and ‘Midsummer Night’s
Dream’!
I quote from Lyly’s ‘Endymion’;-
“Time draweth wrinkles in a fair face, but addeth fresh color to a fast
friend, which neither heat, nor cold, nor misery, nor place, nor destiny,
can alter or diminish.”
Robert Green(1556-1596):
Most interesting of his five plays are ‘The Honorable History of Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay’; ‘A Looking Glass for London & England’ – jointly written with Thomas Lodge; and ‘The Scottish
History of James, the Fourth’.
Green and Lyly added a mythical and a pastoral style to Comedy;
While Kyd and Marlowe refurbished the Elizabethan Tragedy !
Green with the introduction of feminine character and satirical wit
blazed a trend;
Contributing to the shaping of Elizabethan Drama in those early days, when collaboration was also a trend !
Shakespeare is said to have worked in collaboration with Marlowe
and Fletcher,
During his apprenticeship as an actor and a script writer;
Modifying old dramatic themes with modern rendering, creating
Elizabethan Dramatic Literature in the beginning !
George Peele(1556-1596):
Peele was a versatile dramatist, and his plays display a variety in
different categories !
‘The Arraignment of Paris’ – a pastoral play; ‘The Battle of Alcazar’- a romantic tragedy; ‘The Chronicle of King Edward the First’- a historical play; and ‘The Love of King David and Fair Bathsheba’ was a romantic mystery with a Biblical theme !
Peele along with Marlowe clothed the ‘blank verse’ with a lyrical
flow,
Which became an effective medium for Shakespeare to follow !
Here is a quote from Peele’s ‘David and Bathsheba’; -
David: “Now comes my lover tripping like the roe,
And brings my longings tangled in her hair.
To enjoy her love I’ll build a kingly bower,
Seated in hearing of a hundred streams,
That, for their homage to her sovereign joys,
Shall, as the serpent fold into their nests,
In oblique turnings wind the nimble waves
About the circles of her curious walks,
And with their murmur summons easeful sleep
To lay his golden scepter on her brows.”
A quote from Peele’s Sonnet ‘Polyhymnia’:-
“Beauty, strength, youth, are flowers but fading scenes;
Duty, faith, love, are roots and ever green!”
Thomas Lodge & Thomas Nash :
Though their contributions are gauged as minimal by the
literary scholars;
Shakespeare had collaborated with Lodge for his historical
play - ‘Henry the Sixth’;
While Nash had completed the ‘The Tragedy of Dido’,
which Marlowe had left incomplete !
Thomas Kyd (1558-1594):
Kyd was from The Merchant Taylors’ School and not from the
University,
Yet played a major pioneering role in the development of
Tragedy!
Became famous for his ‘The Spanish Tragedy’, introducing
Seneca’s ‘revenge motive’ into English tragedy;
Yet it is no slavish imitation like the ‘Gorboduc’ for example !
Here the murder, the horror scenes, and the ghost, actually
appear on the stage ,
And does not get reported by a ‘messenger’ as in Seneca’s plays!
Kyd’s hero is no superman of the classical days, but an ordinary
person in every way;
He is capable of self-introspection, a quality which distinguishes
Prince Hamlet in Shakespeare’s play!
Kyd, as a friend and room-mate of Marlowe, was subjected to
severe scrutiny,
When Marlowe came under fire with charges of heresy and blasphemy!
Now cutting short, I come to the most talented and famous
dramatist Christopher Marlowe;
Killed in a drunken brawl at the age of 29 years, which for the
Elizabethan drama was indeed a great blow!
Christopher Marlowe (1564-93) :
Regarded as the greatest of ‘University Wits’, and the
most talented of Elizabethan dramatists!
He was a few months older than Shakespeare, both these
literary stalwarts being born in the same year! (1564)
Son of a shoemaker of the Cathedral City of Canterbury,
Which was the Mecca for devout pilgrims in the Medieval
days,
Gets mentioned in Geoffrey Chaucer’s ‘Canterbury Tales’!
Marlowe completed his Cambridge education with the help
of a kind patron ,
But about his later life very few details are known! (See Notes)
Critics describe him as a rebel against the established order
of his days;
Against morality, society and religion, which gets reflected
in his plays;
And also about the violence of Marlowe’s temper, who was
said to be gay !
As seen in King Edward’s unnatural love for Gaveston in his ‘Edward-II’,
- a Chronicle play!
Marlowe’s rebellious temper is reflected in the following quotes below:-
“I hold the Fates bound fast in iron chains,
And with my hand turn Fortune’s wheel about” (‘Tamburlaine’).
In the ‘Jew of Malta’:-
“I count Religion but a childish Toy”
In ‘Edward-II’:-
“You must be proud, bold, pleasant, resolute,
And now and then, stab as occasion serves.”
And finally in ‘Tamburlaine’ Marlowe’s literary aspirations get
reflected, despite his humble parentage :-
“I am a Lord, for so many deeds shall prove,
And yet a shepherd by my Parentage.”
Marlowe’s Tragedies:
But Marlowe’s literary fame rests in his reflection of the
surging national spirit of the Elizabethan Age !
In the hunger and lust for knowledge, power, and beauty, in
his aspiring tragic heroes;
Reaching epic proportions, even as their grasp remain beyond
their reach,- as his tragedies show !
“Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp;
Or what’s a heaven for?”- asks Browning in ‘Andrea del Sarto’ ;
But Marlowe’s tragic heroes never aspire for ‘morale perfection’
- as we know!
In ‘Tamburlaine’ it is Tartar King’s lust for boundless conquest;
In the ‘Jew of Malta’ it is the quest of Barabas for boundless wealth;
and in ‘Faustus’ the lust for boundless knowledge !
His last play ‘Edward-II’ is the study of King’s weakness and
misery,
Is considered the best in style and construction technically!
Shakespeare’s Shylock in his ‘The Merchant of Venice’ is by
Barabas influenced,
And his ‘Richard –II’ by Marlowe’s ‘Edward –II’, as critics
have sensed !
A great portion of Shakespeare’s ‘Henry VI’ is from Marlowe’s
pen, and remains more happily reminiscent !
Marlowe’s ‘Dr Faustus’ is the incarnation of the genuine Renaissance spirit,
With the Doctor’s thirst for boundless knowledge where sky
is the limit !
‘Faustus’ is the most popular and well known of his plays,
Providing us with bursts of magnificent poetic eloquence;
Thus elevating Elizabethan Drama to great heights of excellence!
When Mephistopheles presents the fairest women on the Doctor’s
request, Faustus exclaims ;
“Is this the face that launched a thousand ships,
And burnt the topless tower of Ilium ?
Sweet Helen make me immortal with a kiss, (kisses her)
Her lips suck my soul ! See, where it flies ,
Come Helen, come give me my soul again –
Here will I dwell, for Heaven is in these lips
And all is dross that is not Helen!”
And when time comes for Dr. Faustus to depart for Hell he cries out:-
“O lente, lente currite, noctis equi !
(Oh slowly, slowly run horses of the night!)
The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike,
The devil will come, and Faustus must be damn’d .
O, I’ll leap up to my God !- Who pulls me down?
See, see, where Christ’s blood streams in the firmament !
One drop would save my soul, half a drop: ah, my Christ !-
Ah, rend not my heart for naming of my Christ !......”
Marlowe had composed his five great tragedies within five year’s
of Shakespeare apprenticeship ;
Though his ‘Massacre of Paris’ is now in fragments, and ‘The Tragedy of Dido’ left incomplete !
His fragmentary poem ‘Hero and Leander’ know for its singular
freshness and beauty, - an artistic treat ;
Had inspired Shakespeare’s ‘Venus and Adonis’ as observed
by critics !
“Who ever loved that loved not at first sight!” - ‘Hero&Leander;’
His Blank Verse & Dramatic Legacy :
Marlowe innovative use of the 'blank verse' raised the prosaic drama
of the Classical School to new heights of excellence;
By reforming those old monosyllable lines each standing by itself;
Using variations, altered accents and rhythmic pauses, breathing in a new vigor and sense !
He made the blank verse more elastic and free flowing for venting varying emotional expressions;
As seen in the bombastic lines of ‘Tamburlaine’, and Dr. Faustus’
outbursts of dramatic emotions ;
Left behind a legacy for Shakespeare to follow and improve on !
Both critics and scholars have opined, that had Marlowe lived beyond the age of twenty-nine ,
He no doubt would have been a great rival to Shakespeare,
And cases of all doubtful authorship would have been clear !
The Epilogue of ‘Faustus’ which Marlowe composed might be well written across his own tombstone :-
“Cut is the branch that might have grown full straight,
And burned is Apollo’s laurel-bough
That sometime grew within this learned man.”
Concluding Section Two of Part Four :
With Marlowe I conclude Section Two of this Story of English Literature ,
I had narrated mainly the salient features!
In the ‘Footnotes’ there are a few details with clarifications,
Reading of which I leave to your better discretion!
In my next Part Five however, I shall narrate the Story of the
Elizabethan Stage, and about the great dramatist Shakespeare !
**All Copyrights are with Raj Nandy of New Delhi**
Foot Notes :-
Wise Henry VII married his eldest son Arthur to Princess Catherine of Aragon of Spain
to consolidate the Tudor Dynasty of England ! Arthur died early and the next son Henry,
who became King Henry VIII, married Catherine! Not able to obtain a male heir through
her sought her divorce from the Pope in Rome ! The Pope refused to grant divorce, as Charles V of Spain , uncle of Catherine had conquered Rome & the Pope ! Henry established his independent Anglican Church of England & broke off with Rome! After the early death of Edward VI , Henry’s only son, his elder daughter Mary (married to Phillip II of Spain) became Queen making England once again a Catholic country! After
Mary’s death, Henry VIII’s next daughter Elizabeth became Queen at the age of 25yrs &
Ruled England for 45 years! Elizabethan Age is regarded as the ‘Golden Age’ of English Literature & English Drama! England now became a Protestant country & the Queen ruled with tact & diplomacy, practicing Religious Tolerance!
Robert Green , who had improved English Comedy & also introduced the female character with witty verse, cautioned his contemporaries about that “upstart crow”, who was not content being an actor, but wanted to be a play write having “beautified with our feathers”! Green expired during the last decade of the 16th Century when Shakespeare was gradually gaining recognition, which became all the more easier for Shakespeare after the death of the flamboyant Marlowe in 1593 ! MARLOWE gained instant recognition with his tragic drama “Tamburline’’ (1587)! His heroes were not born kings, but ordinary men who aspired for greatness in the true Renaissance spirit of the time ! But they all had ‘a tragic fault’ in them , which became the cause of their downfall! As echoed in Macbeth’s ‘vaulting ambition’ of Shakespeare ! Marlowe’s ‘blank verse’ is mainly in Iambic Pentameter, with alternate unstressed & stressed syllables going in the rhythmic pattern: –' de dum, de dum, de dum, de dum , de dum '! There are many speculations that Marlowe was engaged in espionage services of Sir Francis Walsingham, & his murder at the tavern was stage managed to smuggle him to the Continent! For if brought to trial, he would have exposed many dignitaries like Sir Walter Raleigh & others! His initial manuscripts were sent back to England without his name, & got reframed by Shakespeare! But Marlowe’s plays lacked humor as he was a tragedian ! Also the development of plot & characterization , and the romantic Comedies, all take a big leap with Shakespeare, as we shall see in the next Section of my Story! It must be remembered however, that the ‘University Wits’ left behind a legacy for Shakespeare, making things much easier for his great compositions, - which subsequently followed ! Thanks, -Raj Nandy of New Delhi . ALL COPYRIGHTS ARE RESERVED BY ME.
Engrossing read and very informative. Appreciate your passion, patience and perseverance.
Wow, how fascinating, bittersweet and such a treat of literary history, delivered with such brevity and touches of rhyming, a breathtaking, drama of our predecessors. How lovely. I enjoyed this very much, still trying to soak it all in. Marvelous. Thanks for posting it.
Thank you Raj for bringing history to life on Poetfreak. I thought it interesting how Marlowe shaped the blank verse. Also when the monasteries were dissolved there was so much cruelty I was not aware of. It is all really informative and a lot to take in, but I have jotted down a few points I found really interesting and I appreciate all the work you have put in to this.
read and copied. gratful
Some interesting thoughts here Raj, you cover a lot of territory in your little essay. What bothers me about those times is the use of the archaic language in modern poetry. And the obstructive line reversals to make a rhyme that break the flow of contextual thought. Informational to those with no background. A poet friend..RH Peat.
No two words as you're a great playwright too!
As usual, very engaging!
The broad sweep of your writing covers lierature in a readable reader friendly way. Although opinions differ as to the staure and influence of some writers recognised generally as masters.Personally I prefer Chaucer to Shakespeare.I do enjoy the courtly language of the Elizabethan poets. When every educated gentleman was expected to be able to compose poetry in classic form. Poetry was the prerogative of the educated classes in most countries. But the peasantry evolved their own styles of poetry.Unhampered by the laid down rules favoured by the aristocracy. It seems to me that the human brain is hard wired for poetry Which made it easier to record history before it became an art form in its own right. Rhyme and meter is much easier to memorise than modern free form poetry.Much of which is merely mangled prose.
A scholarly work, written in a style that is reader friendly. Raj, after going through this amazing work, I realised I have forgotten all I studied decades back at college. But now I feel like going back to school, after reading passages quoted by youfrom works of different dramatists. different dramatists. What I find most engaging and astounding is your passion not only to study but make it accessible to us, and you work so hard to hold and arouse our interest , I must add, so successfully. Your perseverence, dedication and love for art is indeed admirable. I am waiting to see the book in print. Warm Regards Mamta
Awesome, riveting, too delicious with all the history, a treat to read. La, I loved this for the history I am stupidly ignorant of. My senior year of hs I orchestrated and performed a morality play with "Everyman" hence that was delightfully familiar. Superb sampling of literary history and worth of recommending. I loved this!
I have enjoyed reading this presentation so much and compliment you on such a fine work Raj. Thank you so much! Recommend! Dorothy A Poet Who Loves To Sing
read and copied. salute
Dear Sir, interesting, informative and insightful as ever! The history of literature and litterateurs so abounds with comedies, tragedies and mysteries... kudos to you for the precision with which you narrate the same... valuable for laymen and scholars alike.... thank you.
I am so sorry for being late Raj.This work is brilliant.Thanks so much for this historical write.I shall surely treasure this in my file.Thank you.
So much meticulous time and effort has gone into this scholarly work... one is left in no doubt that no stone was left unturned. Not a history without its skeletons... So many things have come to pass before our time, and not all laudable. A fine contribution to history.
Thank you for this informative write, you have researched the history of English Literature so well
Another jewel for your collection and here is narrated the part played by the University Wits and made far clearer by your detailed research my friend. All my best wishes for your forthcoming completion with Shakespeare to be highlighted as pearl in the crown of English dramtic verse. Marlowe however and his lesser compatriates in mystery, tragedy and comedy plays contributed so much as your historical verse shows so aptly as fine legacy for the likes of Shakepeare to use. The quotes used are all inspiring and bring back to mind the need for more reading of these earlier masters of expressive word. Thanks and applause for this latest posting. A real pleasure to read again and again. Recommended.
It's all written so full of interestingness which keeps the reader enlightened so easily thats your style and it will be wonderful to have it all published...a true gem....Thanks for all the had work a pleasure to read I lost a fight lopping a tree in my garden and have a few stitches in my neck plus dancing last week my wife slipped and has a fractured wrist so I am working hard over a hot microwave oven heating TV dinners, still smiling...regards
Wonderful to read about the Tudor's once more... They have a very colorful history and will never tire of hearing or reading about it. Thank you...
Thanks Raj for this well documented piece on the history of English Literature..another meaningful chapter in your book which is both interesting and educative...Congratulations!!
True Premji ! Apart from the bloodshed , the Plague (Black death) had been playing up merry hell in England by visiting her periodically ! The one during first part half of 14th Century ended surfdom- with 1/3 of the population dead , & saw the dignity of labour on the rise ! Another one had killed Shakespeare's only son Hamnet in 1569 ! Hope you found Marlowe interesting ?! -Raj
Wow , long work (haha am quite tired the letters are dancing on the screen ).. We seem to have not learned the lesson our past taught, religion's tight rules are still shedding too much blood... "Elizabethan Age is regarded as the ‘Golden Age’ of English Literature & English Drama! & the Queen ruled with tact & diplomacy, practicing Religious Tolerance!" If we can follow Elisabeth's bright mind , and learn from her lessons this Era could be called the golden age of human race..or so I pray.. Good lessons, hope your students loves them, thank you for share.
Congrats for the new post Raj. A scholarly write has to be chewed and digested that takes some time. I shall get back on this soon. Thank you for sharing.
Golden Age of English literature is always interesting to read! Marlowe was an example for many to f0llow! But Shakespeare, my favourite is romantic bird to follow forever! I am eager to know details about sonnet matter next!
Congratulations Raj for uploading this. I shall read and comment at leisure. Please bear with me, for I want to take my time and go over it slowly. This was my major paper in Post graduation.
raj ji... even the history of english literature is drenched with blood!
Another masterly exposition Sir I salute your scholarship and your ability to teach history poetically.