Thomas Kyd, Cornelia

Rebekah Owens (Anglia Ruskin University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.03: English Writing and Culture: Renaissance (Elizabethan and Jacobean periods) , 1485-1625.
Vol. editors: William M. Hamlin (Washington State University), J A Roe (University of York), Virginia Mason Vaughan (Clark University), Ema Vyroubalova (Trinity College Dublin)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1594

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play

Resources

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A blank verse drama translated from the French original

Cornélie

published in 1574 by Robert Garnier (1544-90). This is the only extant work to be affixed with the name of Thomas Kyd and two editions were published in 1594 and 1595. The latter has on the title page:

Pompey the Great his fair Corneliaes Tragedie: Effected by her father and Husbandes downe-cast, death, and fortune

The style of the play follows the contemporary academic trend of the Senecan, or closet drama, admired by Sir Philip Sidney. In accordance with this the translation retains the Senecan traits of reportage over action, sententiousness and declamation. As the story opens, Rome is being ravaged by civil war, under the tyranny of Caesar. Learning of the assassination of her husband, Pompey, Cornelia contemplates

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323 words

Citation: Owens, Rebekah . "Cornelia". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 April 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=24179, accessed 19 April 2024.]

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