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For twenty years at the beginning of the seventeenth century only a handful of men rivaled Thomas Middleton as a writer for the English stage, and now only Shakespeare and Jonson are held his superiors. He shared Jonson's satiric temper but lacked his weight; if he felt Shakespeare's deep interest in common humanity, he gave no expression to it in his plays. As poets Shakespeare and Middleton hardly bear comparison. As skillful a dramatic writer as Shakespeare was, the poet was not long subordinated to demands of the theater; he thought in images. Even when a Shakespearean speech is deeply impressed with the character of the speaker in the play, it may be enjoyed as poetry; it has interest detached from the character and situation. For Middleton in most part it is otherwise. He abandoned the poetic aspirations of his youth once he started to write for the stage. Scarcely an extended passage in his plays could be detached for an anthology; few playwrights lend themselves less well to quotation.
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