SOURCE: "Ventures in Verse and Prose" and "Comedies for the Boys' Companies," in Thomas Middleton, Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1972, pp. 19-30 and 31-49.

Charting the early development of Middleton's dramatic range, the following extracts focus on Middleton's innovation and experimentation.

I. the Wisdom of Solomon Paraphrased

Translation or paraphrase of the Bible, such as Middleton's first published work, The Wisdom of Solomon Paraphrased (1597), was regarded in his time as a laudable occupation for a poet. Middleton would have considered his rendering into English verse of such hortatory material not only a commendable undertaking but also a test of the proficiency in verse-making that he had acquired by diligent exercise in composing Latin verses as well as an extended rhetorical effort providing the discipline that an apprentice poet requires. In this poem Middleton expanded the 429 verses of the Apocryphal Wisdom of Solomon into 705 six-line stanzas.

The injudicious length of paraphrase...