Thomas Lodge- His prose and verse narratives, and lyrics

His Plays:

His prose and verse narratives, and lyrics:

After dealing with theater plays, Thomas Lodge turned to the other forms of writing—prose and verse narratives, and lyrics. During the years 1589-92, he published two narratives; Scillaes Metamorphosis and Rosalynde. These two are his best long works.

Scillaes Metamorphosis, or Glaucus and Scilla (1589) as it is sometimes called, allows the readers to see Lodge for the first time as a full-fledged poet. The volume is entirely poetry, containing the much-sought Elizabethan variety- long verse narrative and lyrics in various forms. Lodge tells the readers in his dedication that the title of the poem proper is “The most pithie and pleasant Historie of Glaucus and Scilla” in its purest essence “pithie and pleasant” describes almost all of Elizabethan Poetry.

He was sailing while he wrote Rosalynde. This work was certainly one of the golden lights of the English Renaissance, the one work for which Lodge will always be remembered. This work is dedicated to Henry Carey, Lord Hunsdon, one of the most prominent warrior-courtiers of Elizabeth’s court. The plot, in general, is that of the Tale of Gamelyn, a fourteenth-century romance long attributed to Chaucer. Rosader, an ill-treated younger brother, and Rosalynde, daughter of a wrongfully exiled duke, meet at a wrestling match in which Rosader is victorious. Their difficulties force them to flee separately to the forest of Arden, Rosalynde disguised as a page. Their adventures in love and in reconciliation among the rustics in the pastoral setting provide all the ingredients of a warmly human romance. In this work Lodge experimented with a variety of lyric forms ranging from short to long lines, from traditional to invented stanzas, and from conventional to unorthodox line arrangements.

The first success of Rosalynde brought about three more works: The Famous, true and historicall life of Robert second Duke of Normandy, and Catharos, Diogenes in his Singularitie were published in 1591; in 1592 Euphues Shadow, The Battaile of the Senses appeared.

His final Years:

Sources:

Thomas Lodge- Rae, Wesley D., author