Thomas North

Sir Thomas North (1535? - 1601?), English translator of Plutarch, second son of the 1st Baron North, was born about 1535.

Reception

It is almost impossible to over-estimate the influence of North's vigorous English on contemporary writers, and some critics have called him the first master of English prose.

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Shakespeare

The Lives translation formed the source from which Shakespeare drew the materials for his Julius Caesar, Coriolanus and Antony and Cleopatra. It is in the last-named play that he follows the Lives most closely, whole speeches being taken direct from North.

Related Topics:
Shakespeare - Julius Caesar - Coriolanus - Antony and Cleopatra

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Tudor Translations

North's Plutarch was reprinted for the Tudor Translations (1895), with an introduction by George Wyndham.

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