adition; and the history, with
its general formlessness and its mixture of the comic with the serious,
remained a peculiarly English product. Nevertheless, in the second
half of the sixteenth century, subjects from English history were
treated after the manner of Latin tragedy, and the long, rhetorical
speeches of the later historical plays are more suggestive of Seneca
than are most Elizabethan tragedies.

The classical type of drama, with its strict observance of the three
unities,[2] was not congenial to the {31} English temperament. Its
fetters were soon thrown off, and, with the notable exception of Ben
Jonson (1573-1637), few Elizabethan playwrights conformed to its rules.
Its influence, however, was not confined to its imitators. From the
classical drama the Elizabethans gained a sense for form and for the
value of dramatic technique, which did much to make the Elizabethan
drama what it was.

+Three Predecessors of Shakespeare+.--The development of the English
drama from the first attempts at comedy, tragedy, and history was
extremely rapid. When Shakespeare came to London, he found there
dramatists who were far on the road toward mastery of dramatic form,
and who were putting into that form both great poetry and a profound
knowledge of human nature. A complete list of these dramatists would
include a number of names which have a permanent place in the history
of English literature, such as those of Thomas Lodge, Thomas Nash,
George Peele, and Robert Greene. Among these names three deserve
especial prominence, not only because of the great achievements of
these men, but because of their influence on Shakespeare. These men
were Marlowe, Kyd, and Lyly.

It was Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) who first gave to English blank
verse those qualities which make it an extraordinarily perfect medium
of expression. Before him, blank verse had no advantages to offer in
compensation for the abandonment of rime. It was stiff, monotonous,
and cold. Marlowe began to vary the position of the pauses within the
line, and to do away with the pause at the end of some lines by {32}
placing the breaks in thought elsewhere. Thus he gave to his verse
ease, flexibility, and movement, and he put into it the warmth and
vividness of his own personality. Upon such verse as this Shakespeare
could hardly improve. But this by no means sums up his debt to
Marlowe. His characterization of Richard III, for instance, was
distinctly