PEELE, GEORGE

born , c. July 25, 1556, London, Eng. died , c. Nov. 9, 1596 Elizabethan dramatist who experimented in many forms of theatrical art: pastoral, history, melodrama, tragedy, folk play, and pageant. Peele began his varied literary career while at Oxford by translating into English a play of Euripides. In 1581 he moved to London but returned to Oxford in 1583 as a technical director for Christ Church's presentation of two plays by the noted Latin dramatist William Gager (15551622). About this time Peele had joined a group of Oxonians living just outside the London city wall and had begun to experiment with poetry in various metres. From his association with these so-called university wits came two mythological pastoral plays: The Arraignment of Paris (1584) and the masque The Hunting of Cupid (1591). He then produced a series of annual pageants for the city. After the production of The Arraignment of Paris, which he had written for the Children of the Chapel, Peele devoted the rest of his life to writing for the popular stage (though he was also compelled to turn out commemorative poems to supplement his meagre income). Of the many playhouse dramas he must have contributed to, only four can be certainly ascribed to him: a tragedy, The Battle of Alcazar (1594); a comedy, The Old Wives' Tale (1595); a chronicle play, Edward I (1593); and a biblical tragedy in verse, The Love of King David and Fair Bethsabe (1599).