The Plays and Quotes from John Lyly UGC NET ENGLISH PAPER II, UNIT 1. MODULE 5

About University Wits:

1. University wits refers to a group of seven writers in the Elizabethan Age who studied either at Oxford or at Cambridge University.
2. Among them, John Lyly, George Peele and Thomas Lodge studied at Oxford University and Robert Greene, Thomas Nashe and Christopher Marlowe did their graduation at Cambridge University but Thomas Kyd, though included in the group, studied only at the Merchant Taylors School and didn't study at any University.
3. The name University Wits was given to them by the critic George Saintsbury (1845-1933).
4. Heroic themes, heroic treatment, splendid descriptions, long swelling speeches, use of blank verse, classical allusions, and tragic themes are common elements in their plays.
5. Among them, Robert Greene has attacked Shakepeare as an 'upstart crow 'in the pamphlet "Green's Groats- Worth of Wit" generally because it is known that all university wits didn't like the rise of actor-playwrights like Shakespeare who had no university education.

The Plays of John Lyly (1554-1606):
(About LYLY: best known for his prose romance "Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit " , first part in 1578 and second part "Euphues and his England" in 1580 - Euphues exemplifying the demoralised Italian society,  by using his wit for pleasures of wickedness rather than for the honors of virtues - Euphuism, referring to highly formalized distinct ornate style of writing to express the intelligence and wit of the speaker- his plays,  usually played by Children of the Chapel to the courtly people - known for attractive lyrics such as "Cupid and my Campaspe played" - Edward de Vere as his patron to whom the second part of Euphues dedicated )

1. Campaspe(1584)

A prose Comedy - theme : Alexander's victory over himself - Story: Campaspe is a beautiful Theban captive of Alexander the Great who, attracted by her beauty,  asks Apelles, a great painter to paint her portrait. Both Apelles and Campaspe fall in love with each other before the painting is completed. Alexander,  after discovering this,  leaves her to Apelles and returns to conquests by saying,  "It were shame Alexander should desire to command the world, if he could not command himself". The remaining part of the Play deals with Alexander's meeting with great philosophers such as Diogenes, Aristotle and Plato.

2. Sapho and Phao (1584):

A prose Comedy - first play to have allegorical reference to Queen Elizabeth, portraying her as virgin queen - Sapho representing Queen Elizabeth and Phao, standing for Duke of Alencon, Leicester who wooed the queen in vain till 1582 and left England for ever - Story : Sapho is the queen of Sicily and Phao, a ferryman,  but both are endowed with great beauty.  First Sapho's beautiful waiting women court him in vain.  Sapho and Phao both love at first sight but Venus, accidently struck by Cupid's arrows also falls in love with Phao. Venus requests her husband Vulcan and son Cupid to set right her issue.  Cupid makes Sapho forget Phao but lost in Sapho's charms,  in confusion, makes Phao disdainful of Venus. The Play ends with the disappointment of Phao who leaves Sicily for ever and Cupid stays with Sapho eternally.

3.Endymion, the Man in the Moon (1588):
An allegorical prose comedy loosely based on the myth of Endymion - Cynthia (moon), referring to Queen Elizabeth , Endymion, representing Leicester,  and Tellus (earth), standing for Mary, the queen of Scotland - a play in 5 acts,  with a prologue,  epilogue and dumb show or comic reliefs at the end of each act - Story: Endymion loves Cynthia in vain but her servant Tellus loves him with frustrations.  With the aid of the sorceress Dipsas, Tellus makes him fall in deep sleep for ever. Cynthia offended by Tellus puts her in prison and sends her lords Eumenides, Zontes and Panelion to Thesaly to find a remedy for Endymion. Taking the advantage of Corcites' love for her,  Tellus tries to bring Endymion to her but it's of no avail. After 40 years,  Zontes and Panelion bring Pythagoras and a soothsayer but their attempts to bring endymion back to life are thwarted.  Eumenides brings a solution and accordingly with a kiss from Cynthia, Endymion is brought back to consciousness and his youth is also restored. Tellus begs forgiveness and marries Corcites. Even the Sorceress Dipsas repents and abandons witchcraft.

4. Gallathea (1592):
A comedy by Lyly, the first play to present the theme of cross-dressing, women appearing in male's disguise - Story : A village near Lincolnshire, every five years once sacrifices the fairest virgin to respond to the curse of Neptune, the sea God.  To save Gallathea and Phillida, their fathers Tyterus and Melebeus send them to nearby Woods dressed in male's attire. Both girls falls in love with each other,  taking the other to be a young guy. On the other side,  Cupid is captivated by Diana for making her nymphs with his arrows to love disguised Gallathea and Phillida. The cheated and raged Neptune however withdraws his curse as a compensation for the release of Cupid. Even after realizations,  both girls still love and Venus decides to convert anyone of them into a guy. The shipwrecked three miller's sons and Raffe, Robin and Dicke and women in male's attire greatly influenced Shakespeare for his later plays.

5. Midas (1592):

A play based on the legend of Midas, King of Phrygia as in Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book XI - Story first part deals with how Midas is gifted with a boon of golden touch from Bacchus, the God of wine and how, after realizing his mistake,  gets relieved of it by taking a bath in the river of  Pactolus suggested by Baccus. The Second part treats how Midas got Ass's ears cursed by Appolo for favoring Pan on the judgement in the musical competition between them. Suggested by his daughter Sophronia after her visit to Delphi where Appolo's oracle is, King Midas goes there,  repents and gets cured of his auricular affliction and decides not to invade the island of Lesbos, the desire that tempted him with greed. The comic plot focuses on Motto, the barber of Midas who loses the golden beard of Midas to his Pages for making them calm not to reveal tihis spread of news of King's Ass ears to the public.

6. Mother Bombie (1594)

The only realistic play in which Lyly does not use classical allusions but deals with contemporary rustic life - Mother Bombie doesn't play any role on the stage but functions like a chorus advising characters and predicting events,  calling herself "cunning woman" - Story : Memphio and Stellio are rich fathers but have a foolish son Accius and a daughter Selina respectively. On the other side,  Candius and Livia are lovers but their fathers Sperantus and Prisius want their children to marry the rich Accius and Selina respectively.  The complication arises when the fools and lovers are disguised as their counterparts. The old nurse Vicinia but says in the climax that the fools are her son and daughter and the rich men's real offspring brought up by her, Maestius and Serena are not fools and they love each other, thinking their love is incestuous.  Finally fathers leave marriage to the idea of their children and the play has happy ending.

7. The Woman in the Moon (1597):

The only blank verse play from Lyly - theme: the struggle of shepherds in Utopia due to the nature a woman from Nature - The Play as a satire on woman and a typical example for male Chauvinism and sexism - Story : The time of the play is set in before the creation of woman as in Greek mythology.  The goddess Nature accompanied by her maiden Concord and Discord  creates the first woman by breathing life into a clothed statue at the request of shepherds on the pastoral Earth.  The woman named as Pandora receives gifts from seven planets who but decide to rule her one after another to show their malevolent power. Thus, influenced by Saturn, Pandora beats the kissed shepherds in melancholy mood and under the spell of Jupiter burns with ambition and vanity and drives the shepherds into competition of hunting a boar and winning her glove. Next is Mar's turn. Pandora now makes the shepherds quarrelsome and defeats them all with a spear.  Under Sun's power, she chooses the shepherd Stesias to marry and under Mercury, grows more false and cunning. Venus brings romantic interventions and finally controlled by Luna(moon), Pandora grows mad and now no shepherd wants her anymore. The seven planets compete to take her to heaven but Pandora selects Luna (representing mind) and Nature punishes Stesias for getting carried away by others' opinions and curses him to be Pandora's slave and follow her wherever she goes.

8. Love's Metamophosis (1601):

An allegorical pastoral poem - known sources : Ovid's Metamorphosis and Greene's pamphlet known as Greene's Metamorphosis - strikingly lacking comic elements and the usual witty pages-Ceres in the play referring to Elizebath-  Story: Three nymphs of Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture Nisa, Celia and Niobe are changed into a rock,  rose and bird by cupid  for not responding to the love of three shepherds Ramis, Moutanus and Silvestris. In the subplot, a rude peasant Erisichthon is transformed into a nymph Fidelia and punished by Ceres with famine for cutting a holy tree. His daughter Protea first sold to a merchant, escapes with her prayer to Neptune and gets the favor of Cupid by saving her lover Petulius from a Siren, a dangerous sea creature after getting disguised as the ghost of Ulysses. Finally both Ceres and Cupid release their spell on captives in a truce between them. Now the Three nymphs agree to marry the shepherds and the play ends with quadruple marriages.

Famous Quotes from Lyly:
1. All is fair in love and war.

"Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit"

2. Children and fools speak true.

"Endymion"

3. It is the eye of the master that fatteth the horse, and the love of the woman that maketh the man.

"Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit"

4. Fish and Guests in three days are stale.

Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit

5. A heat full of coldness, a sweet full of bitterness, a pain full of pleasantness, which maketh thoughts have eyes, and hearts, and ears; bred by desire, nursed by delight, weaned by jealousy, killed by dissembling, buried by ingratitude; and this is love.

"Gallathea"

6. The wound that bleedeth inward is most dangerous.

"Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit"

7. Time draweth wrinkles in a fair face,

but addeth fresh colours to a fast friend,
which neither heat, nor cold, nor misery,
nor place, nor destiny, can alter or diminish.
"Endymion, the Man in the Moon"

8. [Beauty is] a delicate bait with a deadly hook;
a sweet panther with a devouring paunch, a sour poison
in a silver pot.
"Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit"

9. Instruments sound sweetest when they be touched softest,
women wax wisest, when they be used mildest.
"Euphues and his England"

10. The measure of life is not by its length but by honesty. 
"Endymion, the Man in the Moon"


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