John Lyly

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John Lyly (* 1553 in Kent , England , † November 1606 in London ) was an English writer of the Renaissance and founder of Euphuism , also a clerk in the household of Edward de Vere , the Earl of Oxford. He wrote several dramas and shaped the repertoire of the children's theater groups at the Chapel Royal and St. Paul's School in the 1580s .

Life

Lyly was the son of a clergyman and received his PhD from Oxford in 1575 . In 1578 he brought out the extremely successful prose romance Euphues: or the Anatomy of Wit in London . Lyly's witty style was enriched here with contradicting, descriptive sentences which, as “Euphuismen”, influenced many contemporary English writers. Euphuism sparked such a huge fad that in 1627 the poet Drayton said Lyly taught the English to speak like madmen. It is believed that William Shakespeare also occasionally parodies Lyly stylistically, for example in The Two Gentlemen of Verona . In 1580 he wrote the patriotic episode Euphues and his England ; in the following years eight comedies on classical and mythological themes appeared. Even as a playwright, Lyly could skillfully vary the language, and his masterful acts of love and intrigue delighted the audience. Lyly certainly raised the dramatic level of his time, but soon after he was surpassed by others. After 1590 the favor he had enjoyed at court waned, and in the last years of his life he tried in vain to win back the lost sympathy of Queen Elizabeth I Tudor .

The middle of the sixteenth century in England was marked by political and religious turmoil, which initially disrupted the process of mockery. Queen Elizabeth I was worn much more strongly than her father by the less polished squires and businessmen of the City of London . These struggled with considerable feelings of cultural inferiority towards the finesse of the Italians, French and Spaniards.

Quotes

  • Fish and guests in three days are stale (fish and guests are no longer fresh after three days), Gallathea, 1583–85
  • The sun shineth upon the dunghill, and is not corrupted , (The sun shines on the dunghill, and does not get dirty in the process)
  • Assure yourself that Damon to his Pythias, Pylades to his Orestes, Titus to his Gysippus, Theseus to his Pyrothus, Scipio to his Laelius, was never found more faithful than Euphues will be to his Philautus (Be assured that Damon to his Pythias, Pylades His Orestes, Titus his Gysippus, Theseus his Pyrothus, Scipio his Laelius, was never found to be more faithful than Euphues was his Philautus), Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit, 1579

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Lyly, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES John Lilly (alternate spelling); John Lylie (alternate spelling)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English writer
DATE OF BIRTH 1553
PLACE OF BIRTH Kent
DATE OF DEATH November 1606
Place of death London