Ralph Roister Doister

American  

[ralf roi-ster doi-ster] / ˈrælf ˈrɔɪ stər ˌdɔɪ stər /

noun

1. a play (1553?) by Nicholas Udall: the earliest known English comedy.

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Example Sentences

In 1550 Nicholas Udall wrote “Ralph Roister Doister,” in the very commencement of which Matthew Merrygreek “says or sings”— “Sometime Lewis Loiterer biddeth me come near: Somewhiles Watkin Waster maketh us good cheer.”

From Project Gutenberg

This led to a multiplication and confusion of dramatic types out of which comedy emerged in such plays as "Gammer Gurton's Needle" and "Ralph Roister Doister."

From Project Gutenberg

Udal’s Ralph Roister Doister had been inspired directly by Latin comedy; Gammer Gurton’s Needle was a purely native product; but Supposes is the first example of the acclimatization of the Italian models that were to exercise so prolonged an influence on the English stage.

From Project Gutenberg

So it is that we find the scholarly authors of the two earliest of English comedies, 'Ralph Roister Doister' and 'Gammer Gurton's Needle,' knowing what was expected of them, and giving the five-act form to both of these amusing plays.

From Project Gutenberg

Thus it is that the authors of 'Ralph Roister Doister' and of 'Gammer Gurton's Needle' may have pointed out the path of progress to the author of the 'Comedy of Errors,' whereas the authors of 'Gorboduc,' contemptuously rejecting the folk-theater of their own day, and idly copying the classicist imitations of the Italians, thereby relinquished whatever direct influence they might have had upon the growth of tragedy in England.

From Project Gutenberg