the queen and afterward in the service of John of Gaunt, who was duke of Lancaster and Edward's fourth son. Chaucer served as controller of customs for London from 1374 to 1386 and clerk of the kings works from 1389 to 1391, in which post he was responsible for maintenance of royal build ings and parks. About 1386 Chaucer moved from London to a country residence, where in 1386 he was justice of the peace and representative to Parliament. He traveled on several diplomatic missions to france, one to Spain in 1366, and two to Italy from 1372 to 1373 and in 1378. In the last year of his life, Chaucer leased()a house within the district of Westminster Abbey After his death, he was buried in the abbey(an honor for a commoner), in what has since become the poets' corner Chaucer's masterpiece is The Canterbury Tales. It is made up of a series of stories told by pilgrims to entertain each other on their way to the important Christian Church at Canterbury in southeast England. One of the contributions Chaucer made to the English literature is the introduction of the couplet from France into England Hero plet a rhy ir of iambic-pentameter lines, first used extensively English by Chaucer and later developed as a syntactically complete unit, esp. by Dryden and pol IL. Elizabethan drama 1. Christopher Marlowe(1564-1593) Christopher Marlowe was born in 1564, the year of william Shakespeare's birth He is the eldest son of a shoemaker. At 23. he went to London and became one of the most important dramatist before Will iam Shakespeare. Marlowe worked on tragedy and he wrote four important plays developing tragedy as a dramatic form. Being an atheist(无神论者), he was arrested for an unknown offense. Marlowe was killed in 1593 in a tavern(iW l) fight He and his friend argued over the bill and then he was killed by his friend with a knife. Some say that it may be an assassination. Marlowe died at the age of 29, and it is interesting that at this time Shakespeare was just beginning his dramatic career. Marlowe was the first one to use blank verse that encourage Shakespeare to try it. Marlowe was also the first to write a tragedy in English, again paving the way for Shakespeare I)The greatest writer in"University Wits Marlow is the immed iate predecessors ($4E)of Shakespeare. They are a group of men from the two universities of Oxford and Cambridge, who were generally known as the University Wits, includ ing John Lyly, George Peele(1558-1598) Thomas lodge(1558-1625), Robert Greene(1558-1592), Thomas Nashe, Thomas Kyd(1558-1594), and Christopher Marlowe(1564-1593), lyly and Peele and5 the queen and afterward in the service of John of Gaunt, who was duke of Lancaster and Edward's fourth son. Chaucer served as controller of customs for London from 1374 to 1386 and clerk of the king's works from 1389 to 1391, in which post he was responsible for maintenance of royal buildings and parks. About 1386 Chaucer moved from London to a country residence, where in 1386 he was justice of the peace and representative to Parliament. He traveled on several diplomatic missions to France, one to Spain in 1366, and two to Italy from 1372 to 1373 and in 1378. In the last year of his life, Chaucer leased (租) a house within the district of Westminster Abbey. After his death, he was buried in the Abbey (an honor for a commoner), in what has since become the Poets' Corner. Chaucer’s masterpiece is The Canterbury Tales. It is made up of a series of stories told by pilgrims to entertain each other on their way to the important Christian Church at Canterbury in southeast England. One of the contributions Chaucer made to the English literature is the introduction of the couplet from France into England. Heroic couplet a rhyming pair of iambic-pentameter lines, first used extensively in English by Chaucer and later developed as a syntactically complete unit, esp. by Dryden and Pope III. Elizabethan Drama 1. Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) Christopher Marlowe was born in 1564, the year of William Shakespeare's birth. He is the eldest son of a shoemaker. At 23, he went to London and became one of the most important dramatist before William Shakespeare. Marlowe worked on tragedy and he wrote four important plays developing tragedy as a dramatic form. Being an atheist (无神论者), he was arrested for an unknown offense. Marlowe was killed in 1593 in a tavern (酒馆) fight. He and his friend argued over the bill and then he was killed by his friend with a knife. Some say that it may be an assassination. Marlowe died at the age of 29, and it is interesting that at this time Shakespeare was just beginning his dramatic career. Marlowe was the first one to use blank verse that encourage Shakespeare to try it. Marlowe was also the first to write a tragedy in English, again paving the way for Shakespeare. 1) The greatest writer in “University Wits”: Marlow is the immediate predecessors (先辈) of Shakespeare. They are a group of men from the two universities of Oxford and Cambridge, who were generally known as the University Wits, including John Lyly, George Peele (1558-1598), Thomas lodge (1558-1625), Robert Greene (1558-1592), Thomas Nashe, Thomas Kyd (1558-1594), and Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593), Lyly and Peele and