Write a brief essay on the prose of the
Elizabethan period.
Write a
brief essay on the prose of the Elizabethan period.
Many writers of the Elizabethan age translated
various books into English. Sir Thomas North translated Plutarch’ Lives of the
Noble Grecians and Romans. He was one of the best translators with a good
command of English. He also had the ability to weave words into powerful
sentences. He did not translate directly from Greek, but from a French translation.
Shakespeare has also
used some expressions of North’s work in some of his famous dramas. Richard
Hakluyt collected and published The Principal Navigations, Voyages and
Discoveries of the English Nation. At this time there was a great deal of
travel and adventure on the sea. This book includes the accounts of the voyages
of different people. Hakluyt left a lot of unpublished papers and some of these
came into the possession of Samuel Purchas. He published them under the title
Purchase his Pilgrims. Two other books by Purchase have titles, which are
almost the same Purchase his Pilgrimage.
Some Early Novels
Some of the forms of
novel also appeared during the Elizabethan age. John Lily wrote a kind of novel
named Euphues. He started a fashion, which spread in books and conversation. It
has a thin love story. This style is filled with tricks and alliteration. The
sentences are rather long and complicated. This kind of language style was
common among ladies of the time. Even Shakespeare was influenced by this
artificial style.
