The supreme achievement of English Renaissance literature was the drama, which was the chief medium that Elizabethan writers chose. The Elizabethan Age was an excellent time for playwrights. Theater was one of the least expensive forms of entertainment, and all types of people went to see plays. This mixed audience was interested in a wide variety of subjects. Plays were performed in any suitable location: innards, the halls of great manor houses, university towns, as well as in public and private theaters. The most popular form. was poetic tragedy. Marlowe The poetic drama in England was first successfully launched by a group of brilliant and well-educated young men collectively known as the University Wits. The group included Robert Greene, Thomas Kyd, John Lyly, and Christopher Marlowe. They helped shape the course of Elizabethan drama and profoundly influenced Shakespeare. A man of wide learning, Marlowe was the most distinguished of the University Wits, second in greatness only to Shakespeare. He brought to the English stage a new concept of tragedy, one in which the drama centers around the struggle of a man overwhelmed by his passions and ambitions. His most famous tragedies are Tamburlaine, Doctor Faustus, and The Jew of Malta. In his plays, Marlowe used blank verse, which was one of the most important contributions to the art of English literature. In his mastery of blank verse, in his successful development of the tragedy and the history play, and in his ability to handle diverse themes, Marlowe sketched the way other English dramatists would follow. He had a strong influence on Shakespeare and other poets and dramatists. Ben Jonson The Elizabethan period was also a great age for comic plays. A master of witty, satirical comedy was Ben Jonson, whose most famous works include Volpone, or The Fox and The Alchemist. These plays ridicule the follies of society, revealing both the viciousness of rascals and swindlers and the naivety of their victims. Ben Jonson is considered, after Shakespeare, the most influential dramatist of the Elizabethan stage. He pioneered in a form. of comedy know later as the 'comedy of humors'. His dialogue is brilliantly witty, and his plots are complex and well constructed. His comedies helped shape the plays of Shakespeare. Shakespeare William Shakespeare is generally considered to be the greatest poet and dramatist in English literature. Traditionally, Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564 in Stratford-upon- Avon in mid-England. There is little actual record of his early life. He was in London in 1592, an actor and a playwright. He wrote not for publication, but for performance. His plays, then as now, appealed to a wide audience. Mastering comedy, chronicle play, tragedy and tragic-comedy successively, he created some of the masterpieces of world drama. Shakespeare's plays are still performed not only in English-speaking countries, but also in foreign lands on stages that he had never dreamed of. Indeed, throughout the world, his plays are performed more frequently than those of any other playwright. Several factors combined to make him immortal. In the first place, Shakespeare was a true humanist. He captured the spirit of his age and instilled it into his works. His great poetry is combined with a profound understanding of human nature. He revolutionized the drama by enlarging the audience's vision of human life. It is his insight into human character that captures attention. Secondly, Shakespeare was a master story-teller. Most of his stories have universal appeal. He told his stories in such a way that they never fail to arrest the attention of the audience. Thirdly, Shakespeare was an outstanding poet. His marvelous power of expression is a source of continuous astonishment to the audience. Because of the richness and originality of their poetic imagery, his plays are a joy to read. His