Thomas Kyd (1558-1594), although lacking a university education, succeeded in writing, about 1586, the most popular early Elizabethan play, _The Spanish Tragedy_, a blank verse drama, in which blood flows profusely. Although this play is not free from classical influences, yet its excellence of construction, effective dramatic situations, vigor of movement, and romantic spirit helped to prepare the way for the tragedies of Marlowe and Shakespeare. CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE, 1564-1593 Life.--The year 1564 saw the birth of the two greatest geniuses in the English drama, Marlowe and Shakespeare. Marlowe, the son of a shoemaker, was born at Canterbury, and educated at Cambridge. When he was graduated, the dramatic profession was the only one that gave full scope to genius like his. He became both playwriter and actor. All his extant work was written in about six years. When he was only twenty-nine he was fatally stabbed in a tavern quarrel. Shakespeare had at that age not produced his greatest plays. Marlowe unwittingly wrote his own epitaph in that of Dr. Faustus:-- "Cut is the branch that might have grown full straight, And burned is Apollo's laurel-bough." [Illustration: MARLOWE'S MEMORIAL STATUE AT CANTERBURY.] Works.--Marlowe's great tragedies are four in number _Timberline, Dr. Faustus, The Jew of Malta, and Edward, II._. No careful student of English literature can afford to be unacquainted with any of them. Shakespeare's work appears less miraculous when we know that a predecessor at the age of twenty-four had written plays like _Timberline_ and _Dr. Faustus_. _Timberline_ shows the supreme ambition for conquest, for controlling the world with physical force. It is such a play as might have been suggested to an Elizabethan by watching Napoleon's career. _Dr. Faustus_, on the other hand, shows the desire for knowledge that would give universal power, a desire born of the Renaissance. _The Jew of Malta_ is the incarnation of the passion for the world's wealth, a passion that towers above common greed only by the magnificence of its immensity. In that play we see that Marlowe-- "Without control can pick his riches up, And in his house heap pearl like pebble stones, * * * * * Infinite riches in a little room." _Edward II._ gives a pathetic picture of one of the weakest of kings. This shows more evenness and regularity of construction than any of Marlowe's other plays; but it is the one least characteristic of him. The others manifest more intensity of imagination, more of the spirit of the age.