Page 37 - DENG402_HISTORY_OF_ENGLISH_LITERATURE

History of English Literature Jayatee Bhattacharya, Lovely Professional University

Notes Unit 5: The Renaissance-University Wits and

Contribution of Shakespeare to This Age

CONTENTS

Objectives
Introduction
5.1 Christopher Marlowe
5.2 Robert Greene
5.3 Thomas Nashe
5.4 Thomas Lodge
5.5 George Peele
5.6 John Lyly
5.7 The Renaissance-Contribution of Shakespeare to This Age
5.8 Summary
5.9 Keywords
5.10 Review Questions
5.11 Further Readings

Objectives

After studying this unit, you will be able to:
Define christopher marlowe and robert greene.
Describe thomas nashe and thomas lodge.
Explain george peele and john lyly.

Introduction

The University Wits were a group of late 16th century English playwrights who were educated at
the universities (Oxford or Cambridge) and who became playwrights and popular secular writers.
Prominent members of this group were Christopher Marlowe, Robert Greene, and Thomas Nashe
from Cambridge, and John Lyly, Thomas Lodge, George Peele from Oxford.
This diverse and talented loose association of London writers and dramatists set the stage for the
theatrical Renaissance of Elizabethan England. They were looked upon as the literary elite of the
day and often ridiculed other playwrights such as Thomas Kyd and Shakespeare who did not have
a university education. Greene calls Shakespeare an “upstart crow” in his pamphlet Greene’s
Groats - Worth of Wit.
The chief University Wits include:
Christopher Marlowe
Robert Greene
Thomas Nashe
Thomas Lodge
George Peele
John Lyly

5.1 Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe (baptised 26 February 1564; died 30 May 1593) was an English dramatist,
poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. As the foremost Elizabethan tragedian, next to William
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