Genre Studies Unit-II University Wits

 University Wits

Introduction 

• A group of brilliant writers before Shakespeare.

• The term University wits was coined by George Saintsbury.

• They are called so because they either went Oxford or Cambridge. 

• They wrote complex commercial drama in rhetorical style with heroic themes and treatment.

• They came to prominence in 1580, thus established real drama.

• Modern drama came into existence in the hands of University Wits.

Universities and Writers

The Oxford School

❖ John Lyly

❖George Peele

❖Thomas Lodge

The Cambridge School

❖Robert Greene

❖Thomas Nashe

❖Christopher Marlowe

Thomas Kyd did not attend university but he wrote in the style of University Wits. Hence Kyd is also considered as University Wit.

John Lyly (1554-1606)

A powerful courtier and a secular humanist.

• Lyly wrote witty court allegories and masques.

• The only writer among the University wits to write comedies like :

❖Campaspe

❖ Endymion

❖The Woman in the Moon.

Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit

• Masterpiece of Lyly

• Written in 1578.

• He introduced the prose style Euphuism in this book.

• Euphuism is a formal elaborate style with patterns of alliteration and assonance.

• Sidney’s Arcadia and Apologie for Poetry are written in a style of Euphuism.

• It is a prose romance interspersed with letters.

• It is followed by a sequel, Euphues and His England 1580.

George Peele (1556-1596)

• Experimented with many types of drama.

• Taste for violence and bloodshed.

• His major works include:

❖ The Arrangement of Paris

❖ The Battle of Alcazar

❖ “A farewell to Arms”: sonnet addressed to Queen Elizabeth and also the title of Hemingway’s novel.

❖ The Old Wives’ Tale: Masterpiece satire on the popular drama of the day.

Thomas Lodge (1558-1625)

• Lodge wrote in euphuistic style.

• He responded to Stephen Gosson’s Schoole of Abuse with Defence of Poetry, Music, and Stage Plays.

• His major works include: 

• Rosalynde: Euphues Golden Legacie ,a prose romance, which is a source for As You Like it.

• An Alarm Against the Usurers

 ❖ A Fig for Momus: first classical satire in English.

Two plays by Lodge are:

❖The Wounds of Civil Wars

❖A Looking Glass for London and England

Thomas Kyd (1558-1594)

• Son of a scribe.

• Had a short dramatic career.

• He was imprisoned and tortured on suspicion of spreading heresy and aethism.

• His life ended in abject poverty.

• Kyd wrote in a brilliant style.

• His most famous play The Spanish Tragedy.

• This play is the first English tragic play.

Robert Greene (1558-1592)

• Greene went to both universities.

• He attacked Shakespeare in A Groatsworth of Wit as “an upstart crow beautified with our feathers”.

• He wrote prose imitative of Euphues and Arcadia like :

❖ Menaphon

❖ Mamillia

❖ Pandosto : a source for Winter’s Tale.

❖ Friar Bacon and Friar Bongay : about two printers of the period.

Thomas Nashe (1567-1601)

• Father of picaresque novel.

• His famous work is The Unfortunate Traveller or The Life of Jack Wilton.

• Other major works are 

❖The Anatomie of Absurditie: A survey of 

contemperoray writing. 

❖Pierce Penniless: a rogue tale

Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)

• Marlowe is believed to be a spy and an atheist.

• Also nicknamed as Kit Marlowe.

• Violent and disreputable behavior.

• He died in a drunken brawl at Deptford.

• Anthony Burges wrote A Dead Man in Deptford based on Marlowe.

• He is believed to be the author of 

Shakespearean plays. 

• He wrote works like, Hero and Leander, The Tragedy of Dido ,The Massacre At Paris etc.