Euphues and His England

novel by Lyly

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June 26, 2026

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Euphues and His England is a 1580 prose romance by English author John Lyly. It is the sequel to Lyly's Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit. Together, these novels made Lyly the most fashionable English writer of the 1580s.12

The novels are known for their distinctive style, called euphuism, which is characterized by excessive use of balance, antithesis, alliteration, and similes drawn from mythology and nature. This style, while influential in the development of English prose, eventually fell out of fashion. The name "Euphues" itself is derived from a Greek word meaning "witty".23

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John Lyly
…Anatomy of Wit (1578) and Euphues and His England (1580), which together made him the most fashionable English writer of the 1580s. Euphues is a romantic intrigue told in letters interspersed with general discussions on such topics as religion, love, and epistolary style. Lyly’s preoccupation with the exact arrangement and…
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…Anatomy of Wit (1578) and Euphues and His England (1580), which together made him the most fashionable English writer of the 1580s. Euphues is a romantic intrigue told in letters interspersed with general discussions on such topics as religion, love, and epistolary style. Lyly’s preoccupation with the exact arrangement and…
Read More

English literature
Prose styles, 1550–1600
… (1578), which, with its sequel Euphues and His England (1580), set a fashion for an extreme rhetorical mannerism that came to be known as euphuism. The plot of Euphues—a rake’s fall from virtue and his recovery—is but an excuse for a series of debates, letters, and speechifyings, thick with assonance,…
Read More
… (1578), which, with its sequel Euphues and His England (1580), set a fashion for an extreme rhetorical mannerism that came to be known as euphuism. The plot of Euphues—a rake’s fall from virtue and his recovery—is but an excuse for a series of debates, letters, and speechifyings, thick with assonance,…
Read More