MAJOR WORKS AND THEMES

Lyly’s writing falls into two phases, the initial prose period, when the two parts of Euphues appeared, and the period after 1581, when he wrote eight plays—first Campaspe , then Sapho and Phao, Endimion, Gallathea, Mydas, Mother Bombie, The Woman in the Moon , and Love’s Metamorphosis . He is also known to have written some Latin verses in praise of the queen (1597) and an anti-Puritan tract, “Pappe with an Hatchet” (1589).

There are stylistic and thematic continuities through the two phases of Lyly’s work. He uses prose in all of the plays except The Woman in the Moon , written in blank verse. The main stylistic link is the rhetorical pattern known as euphuism—series of short clauses, using similar syntax and figures of speech, including antithesis, alliteration, and similes drawn from natural history and classical mythology. These sequences are first used in Euphues but reappear in the mouths of many of the dramatic characters. Euphues’ perception of his queen’s glory employs the repetitive pattern of like clauses: “[A]n other sight there is in my glass, which maketh me sigh for grief I cannot show it…the more I go about to express the brightness, the more I find my eyes bleared, the nearer I desire to come to it, the farther I seem from it” (2:203–4). Hephestion’s misogynist denunciation in Campaspe shows this patterning along with the use of natural similes: “I, but she is beautiful; yea, but not therefore chaste; I, but she is comely in all parts of the body: yea, but she may be crooked in some part of the mind…. Beauty is like the blackberry, which seemeth red, when it is not ripe, resembling precious stones that are polished with honey, which the smoother they look, the sooner they break….Hermyns have fair skins, but foul livers; sepulchres fresh colors, but rotten bones, women fair faces, but false hearts” (2.2.45–57). This style became very popular, its witty and ornate tone, wide range of allusions and maxims, repetitive rhythm, and flamboyant finish animating readers and audiences.

Euphuism is meant to be heard and read; it is a sign of the sixteenth-century transition from oral to written culture. The striking parts of both Euphues texts are set speeches, usually delivered as advice or counsel by one character to another. The declamatory style of these passages anticipates the plays. Though the narrator is not strongly present, the ornate rhetoric allows for degrees of narrative irony that may relativize or undercut the characters’ viewpoints. Lyly’s work in both genres shows the important influence of rhetorical models and concepts in humanist education and literature during the Elizabethan period (Altman, Kinney).

There are various thematic links between the prose and dramatic works. Euphues tells of a bright youth’s experiences of love, friendship, and social intrigue. The protagonist undergoes lessons on youthful arrogance, impetuous romance, superficial social style, moral and patriotic integrity. The didactic motives continue in the drama, with the virtues of male solidarity and patriotism extolled in Campaspe and Endimion and the pitfalls of romance revealed there and in Sapho and Phao, Love’s Metamorphosis , and The Woman in the Moon . In contrast to Euphues , the plays develop a sustained and at times complex depiction of court politics, with issues such as submission and resistance to power being raised in these plays and also in Midas . That the plays were performed before the queen suggests that Lyly was tactfully presenting demands for patronage along with views on court affairs, which sometimes included specific events such as the mooted marriage of Elizabeth to the Duc d’Alençon in the early 1580s (Berry, Bevington). The prevailing system of Petrarchan politics and service to the queen, mingling questions of sexuality and power, is also intimated in plays such as Gallathea, Campaspe, Endimion , and Sapho and Phao .

Just as Euphues has been seen as important for the development of narrative method, so Lyly’s plays are significant in the development of drama. The genre of allegorical romance enables subtle depictions of various themes at once, often inviting an active interpretive response from the audience (Gohlke). The issues are presented from different angles, with characters’ views weighed against one another. A key structural element aiding thematic debate is a comic subplot, often questioning or parodying the major characters’ preoccupations. Thus, in Campaspe rebellious servants reflect the main plot’s thoughts on the limits of loyal service, while in Endimion a burlesque romance gently mocks the selfless devotion of the hero to his queen.

The plays are noteworthy for their theatricality and staging. The key techniques are multiple staging and allegorical characterization. Multiple staging uses three “houses” to represent key locations. They are on stage at all times, possibly curtained off when not in use. In Sapho and Phao , for example, the three houses are Sapho’s chamber, Sybilla’s cave, and Vulcan’s forge; in Endimion , they are Endimion’s lunary bank, Corsites’ castle, and Geron’s fountain. In front of these locations is a kind of free space, used for general action and movement. With the houses juxtaposed, visual comparisons can be prolonged throughout the play, sustaining points of conflict between the characters and their perspectives (Saccio).

These viewpoints are amplified through trios of central characters—Alexander, Apelles, and Campaspe; Sapho, Phao, and Venus; Cynthia, Endimion, and Tellus—who represent different ideas of love, loyal service, and earthly desire. As dramatic personae and abstractions (Cynthia is a queen in the action and an archetype of chaste majesty; Endimion, a courtier and an ideal of loyal service; Tellus, a lady-in-waiting and an image of desire), the characters and their locations articulate contesting principles of subjection and sovereignty. With their simple but effective staging and structure, Lyly’s plays form an interesting midpoint between the first Tudor revels under Henry VII and the elaborate Stuart masques of Ben Jonson* and Inigo Jones.