University Wits & Contribution of university wits

The young early Elizabethan dramatist who studied Senecan drama in the university are known as University Wits.

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In other words, the young authors who were associated with Oxford and Cambridge, did much to find the Elizabethan School of Drama.

Why they are called university wits?

They are called university wits because they were the witty students of Cambridge or Oxford University. They were all more or less acquainted with each other.  Most of them led to occasional and stormy life. These expectant university scholars were branded as University Wits. They are- 

Who are called the university wits?

1. George Peele
2.  Robert Greene
3. Thomas Nash
4. Thomas Lodge
5. Thomas Kyd
6. Christopher Marlowe
7. John Lyly
Are the writer called university wits?

Characteristics of University Wits writers writing

1. There was a fondness for heroic themes the lives of great figures like prophet Hazrat Muhammed (Peace Be Upon Him), Tamburlaine etc.

2. Heroic themes needed heroic treatment-there were variety, splendid description, long-drawn speeches, violent incidents and emotion-sanguinary scene.

3. The style was also heroic. The chief goal was to achieve strong and sounding lines. The best example is Marlowe. Christopher Marlowe is famous for his use of Blank-verse.

4. The main themes were usually tragic in nature for the dramatists were as a rule too much in earnest to give heed to what was considered to be the lower species of comedy. The general lack of real humour in the early drama is one of its most prominent features. Humour, when it is brought in at all, is coarse and immature. The only representative of the writers of actual comedies is ' John Lyly'. His

1. Endymion
2. The Moon and
3. The Woman gives us the first example of Romantic comedy.

1. Robert Green

Robert Greene wrote numerously and recklessly. His plays made a considerable achievement to the development of English drama. His sense of wit, imagination vision and humour revealed his dramatic potentiality. 

His major's writings are

1. A Comical History of King of Aragon
2. Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay
3. A Looking Glass of London and England

4. The Scottish History of James IV

2. George Peele 

George Peele was a famous poet, dramatist and translator. His plays have romantic, historical evidence and satirical. George Peele style is violent to the point of absurdity. Peele handled Blank- Verse with more ease and variety that was common at that time. He was fluent and had a sense of humour and pathos.

George Peele notable works are

1. The Arraignment of Paris
2. The Love of David and Bethsheba
3. The Battle of Alcazar
4. Polyhymnia
5. The Humour of the Gaster

3. Thomas Nash

Thomas Nash was a poet, dramatist and satirist the age of Golden age. He took an active part in the political and personal questions l of the day. His writings were satirical. 

His notable writings are

1. The Unfortunate Traveller
2. The Isle of Dogs
3. Summer's Last Will
4. The Life of Jacke Wilton

4. Thomas Lodge 

Thomas Lodge studied law but deserted his legal studies and took tons literary career. He said that he had been an actor at one time. His dramatic work is small in number. Thomas Lodge probably collaborated with William Shakespeare in Henry VI play. The most known of his romances is Rosalynde. It is aforementioned that William Shakespeare followed him closely in his plot of “As You Like It”.

His major's writing are-

1. Forborious and Priscilla
2. Rosalynde
3. Scillaes Metamorphoses
4. Euphues Golden Legacie

5. Thomas Kyd

Among the university Wits, Thomas Kyd is one of the most important of the university wits. Thomas Lodge began the tradition of the revenge play. Many characteristics of which are to be seen in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet and in the work of later Elizabethan dramatists like Webster and others. Most of all Shakespearean plays show a strong Senecan influence which was dominant in Elizabethan drama.

The emergence of English drama apparently shows the influence of classical dramatist Seneca.
Of the living plays of Kyd “The Spanish Tragedy” is most important. Its horrific plot, murder, madness, death gave the play a great snd lasting popularity. There is a great sense of tragedy about the play. Thomas Kyd seems to foreshadow the great tragical lines of Shakespeare.

His majors writing are-

1. The Spanish Tragedy
2. Pompey the Great
3. The First Part of Jeronimo

6. Christopher Marlowe

Christopher Marlowe was one of the greatest of the pre-Shakespearean dramatists. He also represents the tragic vein in the history of English literature. He had no bent for comedy. As a dramatist, he had some serious limitations especially in plot construction he lacks the warm humanity of Shakespearean plays.

But his art of characterization is simple. Most of his play revolves around one figure -his plays are a one-man show. To praise Christopher Marlowe properly, we must put aside the conventional ideas of drama and view his plays as the representation of poetic vision.

He represents the Renaissance quest for beauty. Marlowe is romantic and lyrical in his dramatic presentation of life. All his plays are poetic and artistic. His language or verse is notable for its burning energy, sensuous richness, splendid diction and its responsiveness to the demands of varying moods. His literature is also rich with imageries from geography, Astronomy etc. It has been said that Marlowe's power of poetry led Jonson to coin the phrase “Marlowe's mighty line.”
His great plays like 

1. Tamburlaine the Great
2. The Jew of Malta and
3. The Tragical History of Dr Faustus” 

show Marlowe's love for the conventional Machiavellian hero. However, Marlowe shows a new dramatic sense in English historical drama. His Dr Faustus has a good beginning and an end which is Marlowe's supreme achievement but the comic scenes in the middle are poor. But this play contains some interesting survivals of the miracle plays the conversation of good and evil angels.

His major's plays are-

1. Tamburlaine the Great
2. Doctor Faustus
3. The Jew of Malta
4. You Never Can Tell
5. Edward II
6. Dido, Queen of Carthage
7. Massacre at Paris.

His major's poetry are_

1. The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
2. Amores
3. Hero and Leander
4. Pharsalia

7. John Lyly

His major's writing are-

1. Campaspe
2. Sapho and Phao
3. Midas
4. Euphues ( A book that bears the embryo of English novel)