Henry Vaughan, born on 17 April 1621 and buried on 23 April 1695, was one of the most distinctive English-language poets of the seventeenth century: a Welsh country gentleman, Royalist, medical practitioner, translator, religious writer, and visionary poet whose work transformed private devotion into startling images of light, landscape, childhood, death, and eternity. He is usually grouped with the metaphysical poet…
“Holy writing must strive (by all means) for perfection and true holiness, that a door may be opened to him in heaven.”
Neighbourhood:
Devotional Poets, Metaphysical Poets, Mystical & Spiritual Poets, Welsh Poets
Emotional landscape: Despair, Spirituality, Longing
John Gay, born on 30 June 1685 in Barnstaple, Devon, and dead in London on 4 December 1732, occupies a distinctive place in the literature of the early eighteenth century. He was a poet, dramatist, librettist, fabulist, journalist, and observer of urban life, but none of these labels fully contains him. His greatest achievement, The Beggar’s Opera, changed the history of English theatre by making songs familiar to or…
“While there is life there's hope.”
Neighbourhood:
Georgian Poets, Light Verse Poets, Satirical Poets
Emotional landscape: Irony, Wonder, Tenderness
