Which playwright is credited with pioneering blank verse in works like Tamburlane and The Jew of Malta, paving the way for Shakespeare?

Which playwright is credited with pioneering blank verse in works like Tamburlane and The Jew of Malta, paving the way for Shakespeare?

• A. Christopher Marlow
• B. William Shakespeare
• C. Ben Jonson
• D. John Webster

Answer: (A)

Blank verse—unrhymed iambic pentameter—offers a strong, elevated rhythm that can ride quickly through dramatic dialogue while staying disciplined in its meter. Christopher Marlowe pioneered this way of writing for English tragedy, using it in works like Tamburlaine and The Jew of Malta to carry bold, declamatory language and rapid, forceful speech. This approach gave plays a spacious, muscular versatility: lines could breathe or surge with emphasis, and writers could push scenes forward with enjambment and natural-sounding speech that still felt poetically controlled. Shakespeare later adopted and refined blank verse, expanding its emotional range and mastery, but the form’s inception in Marlowe’s experiments is what set the stage for his generation and for Shakespeare’s towering tragedies. The other playwrights listed contributed significantly to English drama, but they did not originate blank verse in the way Marlowe did.

Blank verse—unrhymed iambic pentameter—offers a strong, elevated rhythm that can ride quickly through dramatic dialogue while staying disciplined in its meter. Christopher Marlowe pioneered this way of writing for English tragedy, using it in works like Tamburlaine and The Jew of Malta to carry bold, declamatory language and rapid, forceful speech. This approach gave plays a spacious, muscular versatility: lines could breathe or surge with emphasis, and writers could push scenes forward with enjambment and natural-sounding speech that still felt poetically controlled. Shakespeare later adopted and refined blank verse, expanding its emotional range and mastery, but the form’s inception in Marlowe’s experiments is what set the stage for his generation and for Shakespeare’s towering tragedies. The other playwrights listed contributed significantly to English drama, but they did not originate blank verse in the way Marlowe did.