Middleton, Thomas

Middleton, Thomas
(1580-1627)
   English dramatist, a younger contemporary of William Shakespeare. He often wrote in collabo-ration with other playwrights such as William Rowley and Thomas Dekker. He also produced many masques and pageants for public oc-casions. Educated at Queen's College, Oxford, he began his literary career as a poet in 1597 and soon became an active writer for the flourishing London theater. He wrote comedies, both romantic and realistic, and tragedies. His works include The Changeling (1622), which was his most famous tragedy; The Roaring Girl (ca. 1610); and Women Beware Women (1621). In his own time, the most noticed of his plays was his savage attack on Spain and the Spanish ambas-sador in London, A Game at Chess (1624), written at a time when the king was considering a Spanish princess as a bride for the future King Charles I. The drama played to packed and enthusiastic houses nine consecutive days until the government closed it down. Modern quan-titative analysis of Jacobean plays has also identified Middleton's probable authorship of some passages in two Shakespearean plays, Macbeth and Timon of Athens, and has identified him as the probable author of a very influential play, The Revenger's Tragedy (1607).

Historical Dictionary of Renaissance. . 2004.

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  • Middleton, Thomas — born April? 1580, London, Eng. died July 4, 1627, Newington Butts, Surrey British playwright. Middleton studied at Oxford University and had written three books of poetry by 1600. He learned to write plays by collaborating with John Webster and… …   Universalium

  • MIDDLETON, Thomas — (1580 1627) With a prolific writing career that almost exactly spanned the Jacobean era, Thomas Middleton is perhaps the most representative figure of Jacobean drama. Born into a middle class London family, Middleton was educated at Oxford. There …   Renaissance and Reformation 1500-1620: A Biographical Dictionary

  • Middleton, Thomas — (?1570 1627)    He was born in London, the son of prosperous bricklayer, but there is confusion about his date of birth. The DNB and the National Portrait Gallery give 1570, while several others give 1580. He became renowned as a playwright and… …   British and Irish poets

  • Middleton, Thomas — (¿abr.? 1580, Londres, Inglaterra–4 jul. 1627, Newington Butts, Surrey). Dramaturgo británico. Middleton estudió en la Universidad de Oxford y en 1600 ya había publicado tres libros de poesía. Se instruyó en la escritura teatral al colaborar con… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Middleton,Thomas — Mid·dle·ton (mĭdʹl tən), Thomas. 1570? 1627. English playwright whose comedies, written between 1604 and 1611, include A Trick to Catch the Old One and A Chaste Maid in Cheapside. * * * …   Universalium

  • MIDDLETON, THOMAS —    dramatist, born in London, where he was afterwards City Chronicler, married Mary Morbeck, and died; was fond of collaboration, and received assistance in his best work from Drayton, Webster, Dekker, Rowley, and Jonson; his comedies are smart… …   The Nuttall Encyclopaedia

  • Middleton, Thomas — (1570 1627)    Dramatist, was a Londoner and city chronologer, in which capacity he composed a chronicle of the city, now lost. He wrote over 20 plays, chiefly comedies, besides masques and pageants, and collaborated with Dekker, Webster, and… …   Short biographical dictionary of English literature

  • Thomas Middleton — Thomas Middleton. Thomas Middleton (getauft 18. April 1580; † 1627) war ein englischer Schriftsteller und Poet. Wie auch John Fletcher und Ben Jonson gehörte er zu den erfolgreichsten Stückeschreibern der englischen Renaissance. Gemeinsam mit… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Thomas Middleton — Thomas Middleton. Thomas Middleton (bautizado en Londres, 18 de abril de 1580 Newington Butts, julio de 1627), dramaturgo inglés de teatro renacentista inglés. Contenido …   Wikipedia Español

  • MIDDLETON (T.) — MIDDLETON THOMAS (1570 ou 1580 1627) Les biographes diffèrent sur la date de naissance de Thomas Middleton. On le fait naître tantôt en 1570, tantôt dix ans plus tard. Ce qui est sûr c’est qu’un Thomas Middleton fut baptisé à Londres le 18 avril… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

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