The document discusses the University Wits, a group of pioneering English dramatists who wrote during the late 16th century. The University Wits were educated at Oxford or Cambridge and helped establish English drama during the Elizabethan era. Some of the key members discussed include Christopher Marlowe, Robert Greene, George Peele, John Lyly, Thomas Nashe, and Thomas Kyd. Marlowe in particular greatly influenced William Shakespeare through plays like Tamburlaine the Great that used blank verse and featured overreaching protagonists.