1599

The War of the Poets

Julian Glover and Adrian Schiller in
"King Lear"The rise in popularity of the Boys' Companies is instrumental in a rift between Ben Jonson and William Shakespeare. The spat takes in other poets and playwrights supportive of the Boys' Companies and their detractors and also opens a rift between purveyors of classically based works (Jonson) and more populist works (Shakespeare).

Tit-for-tat hostilities ensue, and volleys of witty insults and torturous puns are unleashed in a Helm's Deep style battle for linguistic dominance.

No one dies, but some language is badly mangled.