Assignment Paper:- 105 (History of English Literature)

                     

   Personal Information:-

• Name : Aarti Bhupatbhai Sarvaiya
• Batch : M.A. Sem. 1 (2022-2024)
• Enrollment N/o. : 4069206420220027
• Roll N/o. : 01
• Subject Code & Paper N/o. : 22396 - Paper 105: History of English literature 
• Email Address : aartisarvaiya7010@gmail.com
• Submitted to : Smt. S. B. Gardi Department of English – Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University – Bhavnagar – 364001
• Date of Online Submission : 01st November, 2022
• Date of Offline Submission : 07th November, 2022

University Wits :-

The young authors, who were associated with Oxford and Cambridge, did much to found the Elizabethan School of Drama. They were all more or less acquainted with each other. And most of them led irregular and stormy lives. These promising university scholars were branded as University Wits.(Admin)

Subtitles of the Assignment :-

• Introduction 

• Why are they called University Wits ?

• Prominent members of University Wits

• Detailed information on University Wits 

• Their style of writing 

• Their contribution to English Drama

• Their contribution to English Literature  

• Conclusion 

• References

 

• Introduction:-

 

In this assignment I'm going to discuss the topic of University Wits,Why they are called University Wits and How they are differentiated from other writers. I also discuss their life and work. 

• Why are they called University Wits ? :-

A group of 16th-century young dramatists or English playwrights and pamphleteers who were educated at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge and who became popular secular writers of the English drama are called University Wits. Prominent members of the University Wits were John Lyly, Thomas Lodge, George Peele, Robert Greene, Thomas Nashe, and Christopher Marlowe. These dramatists have educated scholars who received humanistic education and wrote in the closing years of the 16th century, which are called university wits. (Ghosh)

    The term ‘University Wits’ was coined by George Saintsbury in ‘A History of Elizabethan Literature,’ 1887. George Saintsbury was a 19th-century journalist and author. The University Wits came from more or less a humble background and had steady patrons to rely on. They were witty students. The University Wits led an irregular and uncertain life. Edward Albert wrote about the University Wits in his ‘History of English Literature’ and called University Wits as one of the branches of a national tree. (Ghosh)

• Prominent members of University Wits :-

The following are the names of University wits Member :-

•  Christopher Marlowe
• Thomas Kyd
• Thomas Lodge
• Thomas Nash
• Robert Greene
• George Peele
• John Lyly (Chetry)

 They were called University Wits in English Literature because they all had certain things in common. All of them were qualified with University Degrees . All of them were actors and playwrights (Chetry)

• Detailed information on University Wits :-

CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE (1564 - 1593) :-

Christopher Marlowe was perhaps the greatest among the University Wits. He was the only dramatist who was compared to Shakespeare even though he lacked the warm humanity of Shakespearean plays. Marlowe was fond of tragedy in literature. He had no interest in comedy. Again, as a dramatist, he had some serious limitations, especially in plot construction. His art of characterization was simple. His plays were one man show- they centered around one figure. Though he had some lacking, he was remarkable for being lyrical and romantic in his dramatic presentation of life. All his plays were poetic and artistic. “The Jew of Malta” and “Dr. Faustus” are two of his best works. These two plays clearly show Marlowe’s love for conventional Machiavellian heroes. (Mursalin)

THOMAS KYD :-

Thomas Kyd is another important dramatist of the University Wits. He introduced the tradition of revenge play. We can easily find the influence of Kyd in the works of Shakespeare. “The Spanish Tragedy” is the best work of Thomas Kyd. This play had some outstanding features. The plot is horrific. There are murders, madness and death, but it earned a huge popularity for the play. (Mursalin)

THOMAS LODGE :-

Thomas Lodge was a lawyer by profession but he gave up his career and took literature as career. He wrote only a few dramas. “Rosalynde” is the most famous of his romantic comedies. It is said that Shakespeare took the plot of his “As You Like It” from Lodge’s “Rosalynde”. (Mursalin)

THOMAS NASH :-

Thomas Nash was a professional journalist. He got involved in politics as well. His works had a satiric tone. “Unfortunate Traveller” is his best work, which had much influence as far as the development of English novels is concerned. (Mursalin)

ROBERT GREENE (1558 - 1592) :-

Robert Greene’s plays had a great contribution in the development of English drama. Although his art of characterization was weak and his style was not outstanding, his humor was highly interesting. His method was not very strict like the other tragedians of that time. He was witty, humorous and imaginative.(Mursalin)

GEORGE PEELE (1556 - 1598) :-

George Peele was another important dramatist of the University Wits. His plays had romantic, satiric and historical evidence. He had no attraction towards poetry. He handled Blank-verse with variety, and had a sense of humor and pathos. “Edward the 1st” was perhaps his best work. (Mursalin)

JOHN LYLY (1554 - 1606) :-

John Lyly was born in a middle-class family and studied at Oxford University. Later, he came to London to earn his living. He had a patron named ‘Edward de Vere,’ Earl of Oxford. John Lyly was another great dramatist who had a strong interest in romantic comedies. His comedies were marked by elaborate dialogues, jests and retorts. We can find his influence in Shakespearean comedies. “Midas” is one of the most important works of John Lyly which had shaken the development of the romantic comedy in English literature. (Mursalin)

• Their style of writing:-

The University Wits could not associate themselves with the church. They were writing for public theatres, courts, and private theatres. The University Wits combined different styles in their writing, mostly classical influence, courtly influence (associated with the elite class), and popular drama (related to the realities of earning a living). The University Wits played a formative role in developing the English drama and the English theatre more popular with Renaissance humanism. The involvement of the University Wits in the theatre was for literary concern, which led to English literature as a whole. (Ghosh)

• Their contribution to English Drama:-

Christopher Marlowe :-

The most important figure among the university wits, that could be placed in the rank of Shakespeare, is Christopher Marlowe (1564-93). The greatest among the pre-Shakespearian dramatists, Marlowe was educated at Canterbury and Cambridge. He led a dissolute life, and could be arrested but for his untimely death in a fight in a tavern. (Dutta )

Marlowe wrote only tragedies, and they all were written within five years (1587-92). Among his plays, Edward II is his best work, with a well-constructed plot, though the characterisation is simple. In this play, the material drawn from Holinshed’s Chronicles is neatly compressed. Its hero cannot claim to be truly tragic, but in the Murder Scene he arouses deep pathos. Tamburlaine the Great (1587), dealing with one ‘inhuman figure’ (Albert), cannot be called to have dramatic excellence. The plot is episodic and lacks cohesion. The Second Part of Tamburlaine the Great (1588) is inferior to its predecessor. The Jew of Malta (1589) projects a Machiavellian villain. In spite of a good opening, the play deteriorates with the introduction of the second villain, Ithamore. Doctor Faustus (1592?) has a good beginning and an ending, but the comic scenes appearing inside are not charming enough. The conversations between the good and the evil angels remind us of the mediaeval Miracle plays. The Tragedy of Dido, Queen of Carthage (c. 1593) written in collaboration with Nash demonstrates sub-standard dramatic art, and The Massacre at Paris (1593) was left unfinished. Marlowe’s plays represent ‘a poetic vision, the typically Renaissance quest for power – l'amour de l'impossible – combined with the quest for beauty.’ In Tamburlaine, the shepherd seeks the “sweet fruition of an earthly crown”, in The Jew of Malta, Barabas seeks “infinite riches in a little room”, while the quest in Doctor Faustus is for infinite knowledge. If not the first experimenter with blank verse, Marlowe raised it to a certain height.’ His verse is notable for its burning energy, its splendour of diction, its sensuous richness, its variety of pace, and its responsiveness to the demands of varying emotions.’ Marlowe’s contribution to English play may be said to have been: 

•  He glorified the matter of the drama by his sweep of imagination as reflected in the stories.
•  He vitalized the manner and matter of the drama, as reflected in characterization.
• He clarified and gave coherence to the drama, as reflected in his blank verse. (Dutta )

Thomas Kyd (1558-1594) :-

He was one of the important university wits, was the son of a London Notary and was educated at Merchant Taylors School. A dramatist and translator, he achieved great popularity with his first work, The Spanish Tragedy, which was translated into German and Dutch. The horrific plot of the play, stuffed with murder, frenzy and sudden death, has gained the play lasting importance and popularity. While the play bears resemblances of Marlovian lines, ‘there are touches of style that dimly foreshadow the great tragic lines of Shakespeare.’ The only other play of Kyd that still survives is Cornelia (1593), a translated version of a work of the French Senecan, Garnier, ‘but his hand has been sought in many plays including Soliman and Perseda (1588), the First Part of Jeronimo (1592), an attempt, after the success of The Spanish Tragedy, to write an introductory play to it, and Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus’. (Dutta )

Thomas Lodge (1558-1625) :-

He was educated at both Oxford and Cambridge where he studied law. He, however, gave up his legal studies and took to writing, and while writing, he acted too. Nash produced very little in quantity, and it is assumed that he collaborated with Shakespeare in Henry VI. The Wounds of Civil War, a kind of chronicle play, is considered to be Lodge’s own work. He also wrote prose romances, the most famous of which is Rosalynde: Euphues Golden Legacie (1590) which was the chief source of Shakespeare’s As You Like It. (Dutta )

Thomas Nash (1567-1601) :-

After completing his education at Cambridge, he went in 1586 to London to earn by writing. He took an active part in the political and personal questions of the day, and his aggressive method took him behind the bars. He finished Marlowe’s The Tragedy of Dido, but his only surviving play is Summer’s Last Will and Testament, a satirical masque. Nash also wrote The Unfortunate Traveller or The Life of Jacke Wilton (1594), a prose tale that has had enough importance in the growth of English fiction. (Dutta )

Robert Greene (1558-1592) :-

Was a student of St. John’s College, Cambridge, and later Clare Hall, Oxford where he took his M.A. degree in 1583. He lived a lecherous life, and his life, which had much promise, came to an end nearly in the bud. Greene was, first of all, a storyteller and a pamphleteer who turned to drama for the lucre it offered. His plays are four in number: Alphonsus, King of Aragon, (1587); Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (1589), Orlando Furioso (c.1591) and The Scottish Historie of James the Fourth (1592). Alphonsus is modelled on Marlowe’s Tamburlaine; Orlando Furioso (c.1591) has its source in an English translation of Ariosto; and The Scottish Historie of James, the Fourth, staged in 1592, is not a historical play, but has for it theme an imaginary incident of King’s life. Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, the finest of Greene’s works, is a tale of love of a maid with two men. Though it lacks in complications that it could have, the chief merit of the play lies in the lively method of presenting the story. It can, to a great extent, be called a document of Elizabethan life. Greene wrote thirty-five prose pieces. They are also important works in that they reveal the author’s erratic energy, his quick, malicious wit, and his powerful imagination. (Dutta )

“Greene is weak in creating characters, and his style is not of outstanding merit, but his humour is somewhat genial in his plays, and his methods less austere than those of other tragedians.” (Dutta )

George Peele (c.1558-98) :-

He was born in London and was educated at Broadgate Hall, Oxford, where he completed his degree in arts in 1579. Peele was an actor as well as a writer of plays, and for some time, he was a member of Lord Admiral’s Company. Peele has left behind some half dozen plays, rich in poetic beauty paralleled by none except Marlowe’s. The Arraignment of Paris (c.1584) is supposed to be his earlier work. A kind of romantic comedy, it contains an elaborate tribute to the Queen and shows great skill in the variation of metre. Less musical than David and Bathsheba (1599), it has some striking passages of melodious beauty. David and Bathsheba contains many lines of great beauty – ‘not the sweeping beauty of Marlowe, but a gentler and more insinuating charm.’ Peele’s other works include Edward I (1593), an incoherent chronicle play; The Old Wives’ Tale, a clever satire on the popular drama of the day ; The Hunting of Cupid, an earlier play now lost. Peele’s poetical works include Polyhymnia (1590), a poem in blank verse, The Honour of the Garter (1593), The Fall of Troy. (Dutta )

John Lyly (1554-1606) :-

Was more famous as a writer of prose than a dramatist proper. The plays of Lyly were written after the publication of Euphues, the Anatomy of Wit (1579) and were acted by ‘the children of Paul’s before her majesty.’ His best-known dramas include Alexander and Campaspe, played on New Year’s Eve in 1581; Sapho and Phao (1584); Endymion (1591) written around the friendship between the Queen and the Earl of Leicester, and Midas (1592). He also wrote two other plays – The Woman in the Moon and Love’s Metamorphosis. Lyly’s plays might lack stage effectiveness, but they display the dramatist’s superior culture and a fine sense of style. His plays have more kinship with masques than the drama, and the delightful songs that are interpolated in the plays enhance their charm by a great measure. His dialogues are really admirable at times, happy in clear-cut phrases and allusiveness. After all said and done, the fame of Lyly rests on his prose work Euphues and the play, Endymion. (Dutta )

• Their Contribution to English Literature :-

The university Wits contributed greatly to the formation of romantic comedy which later culminated in the hands of William Shakespeare.

THOMAS KYD AND CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE :-

The two most famous university wits were Kyd and Marlowe. Both of them developed tragedy which gradually became the most popular poem of the time. Thomas Kyd is famous for the Spanish tragedy, which turned out to be a landmark in the history of English drama because it firmly established the genre of revenge tragedy. He inspired Shakespear’s Hamlet and the later Jacobean cult of Revenge plays,particularly those of Webster.

The most important university dramatist among the university wits was undoubtedly Christopher Marlowe, he enriched the Elizabethan plays not only by his great tragedies like Tamburlaine Doctor Faustus, Jew of Malta etc but also by introducing the Blank verse as a powerful media. Marlowe demonstrated that if used effectively. The Blank Verse could become an appropriate medium for tragedies . (Chetry)

THOMAS LODGE :-

Thomas Lodge wrote a chronicle play called the wounds of the Civil War. This play perhaps influenced Shakespeare's later Chronicle plays. Lodge also wrote another play called a ``looking glass for London and England. (Chetry)

THOMAS NASH :-

He is noted to have written summer’s last will and Taskeman which was acted in 1592 and perhaps he too also contributed some part to Marlowe’s Dido Queen of Carthage , and to a last play called the Isle of Dogs. Nash is however more famous as a Pamphlet and a story writer particularly. (Chetry)

ROBERT GREENE :-

Robert Green was another University Wit who contributed to the development of English Comedy. In his plays like Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, There is an exquisite connection of diverse moods and surroundings. They create a world where princesses meet with Clowns and fairies with artisans.

The university  however had not mastered the art of plot construction. Their plots were often used but they could harmonize the difference of their stories into a whole which somehow held in the advancement of plot from this point of view Robert Green was a pioneer and he was later successfully followed by Shakespeare skill in Constructing plot particularly in the Merchant of Venice. A midsummer’s night dream. (Chetry)

GEORGE PEELE :-

 

George Peele was another university witch who wrote comedy plays that are both humorous and satirical in style. Among his plays, mention can be made of Battle of Alcazar, The arrangement of Paris etc. (Chetry)

JOHN LYLY :-

It was John Lyly, a courtier who made notable contributions to the development of English comedy. This comedian is romantic as well as witty. Some of this romantic plays are Endymian, Midas, Love’s Metamorphoses etc.(Chetry)

• Conclusion :-

Thus, we can conclude that University Wits has had much influence in the history of English drama. Their dramas, especially the romantic comedies are of a great height. We can find their influence in later dramas of the Elizabethan period. (Mursalin)

• References :- 

1. Admin. “Who Were the University Wits? Discuss Their Contribution to English Drama.” Josbd, 29 Aug. 2022, www.josbd.com/who-were-the-university-wits-discuss-their-contribution-to-english-drama/. 

2. Chetry, Rohit. “Who Were Known or Called as University Wits in English Literature and What Are Their Works.” Estudent, 2 Apr. 2020, www.estudent-corner.com/2020/04/who-were-known-or-called-as-university.html?m=1. 

3. Dutta , Sibaprasad. The University Wits: Their Contribution to English Drama - Researchgate. Sept. 2014, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/300086203_The_University_Wits_Their_Contribution_to_English_Drama.

4. Ghosh, Debadrita. “16th Century University Wits and the Rise of English Drama.” Icy Tales, 7 Nov. 2021, 12:28 A.M., icytales.com/16th-century-university-wits-a-good-read/. 

5. Mursalin, Sunny. “Influence of University Wits on English Literature.” BDTIPS, 15 July 2018, www.bdtips.com/influence-university-wits-english-literature/.

Word Count :- 2977

Images :- 08

Refferences :- 05

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