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Udall, Nicholas
Udall, Nicholas (1505–56). Dramatist. Udall was educated at Winchester and Corpus Christi College, Oxford, took up teaching, and became headmaster of Eton and, at the end of his life, at Westminster. Like most Tudor pedagogues he was reputed a heavy flogger. His sympathies were with Lutheran reform and he prospered during the reign of Edward VI but managed to survive in that of Mary. Udall translated from the classics and wrote Latin plays, but is remembered as the author of the earliest known English comedy, Ralph Roister Doister, an imitation of Plautus, performed about 1552. The subject-matter is the wooing of a widow by Roister, a simple-minded braggart who comes to grief, and must have owed its popularity to the opportunities it presented for knockabout humour.
J. A. Cannon |
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JOHN CANNON. "Udall, Nicholas." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN CANNON. "Udall, Nicholas." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O110-UdallNicholas.html JOHN CANNON. "Udall, Nicholas." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O110-UdallNicholas.html |
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Nicholas Udall
Nicholas Udall 1505–56, English dramatist, educated at Oxford. He was headmaster of Eton (1534–41) and of Westminster School (from 1554). His one extant play, Ralph Roister Doister (c.1545), is regarded as the first complete English comedy. The influence of Plautus and Terence is evident, but the play is distinguished by its elements of native English humor. |
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"Nicholas Udall." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Nicholas Udall." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Udall-Ni.html "Nicholas Udall." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Udall-Ni.html |
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Udall, Nicholas
Udall, Nicholas or Nicholas Uvedale, (1504–56), dramatist and scholar, successively headmaster of Eton and Westminster. He was author of Ralph Roister Doister, the earliest known English comedy. He translated selections from Terence and other works, and wrote Latin plays on sacred subjects.
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MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Udall, Nicholas." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Udall, Nicholas." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-UdallNicholas.html MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Udall, Nicholas." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-UdallNicholas.html |
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