born 1554?, Kent, Eng.
died November 1606, London
English writer.
Educated at Oxford, Lyly gained fame in London with two prose romances, Euphues (1578) and Euphues and His England (1580). The novels inspired euphuism , an elegant, extravagant Elizabethan literary style, and made Lyly the first English prose stylist to leave an enduring impression on the language. As a dramatist he also contributed to the development of prose dialogue in English comedy, a genre to which he devoted himself almost exclusively after 1580. Endimion (performed 1588) is considered his finest play.