Who are the University Wits? Discuss their contribution to English Drama.

University Wits refer to a group of pre-Shakespearean writer scholars who contributed much to the flourish of English literature. These scholars are called the University Wits as they were the alma maters of either the University of Oxford or the University of Cambridge. During their lifetimes, they were not known as the “University Wits”. It was George Saintsbury who first coined the term “University Wits.”

English literature is the fruit of numerous notable scholars in different times and ages. The group of university scholars who contributed much to the development of English literature includes: 

(i) George Peele

(ii) Robert Greene

(iii) Thomas Nash

(iv) Thomas Lodge

(v) Thomas Kyd

(vi) Christopher Marlowe

(vii) John Lyly