Francis Beaumont was born in 1584, probably at Grace-Dieu, the Beaumont family’s estate near Thringstone in Leicestershire, and died in London on 6 March 1616. His life was brief even by the hazardous standards of the early seventeenth century, but his literary afterlife has been exceptionally long. As a poet, satirist, comic experimenter, and—above all—dramatist, he helped to shape the distinctive sound and structur…
“What things have we seen Done at the Mermaid! heard words that have been So nimble and so full of subtle flame As if that every one from whence they came Had meant to put his whole wit in a jest, And resolved to live a fool the rest Of his dull life.”
Neighbourhood:
Dramatic Poets, Elizabethan Poets, Light Verse Poets, Love Poets, Renaissance Poets
Emotional landscape: Irony, Anger, Sorrow
Sir Henry Wotton was born on 30 March 1568 at Bocton Hall in Kent, into a family whose Protestant loyalties, landed status, and administrative connections prepared him for public life. He died on 5 December 1639 at Eton, having lived through the final decades of Elizabeth I’s reign, the long rule of James I, and the early, increasingly troubled years of Charles I. He is remembered in several capacities: as an ambassa…
“An ambassador is an honest man sent to lie abroad for the good of his country.”
Neighbourhood:
Cavalier Poets, Devotional Poets, Metaphysical Poets
Emotional landscape: Spirituality, Peace, Wonder
