The Life of William Shakespeare (15641616)Within the class system of Elizabethan England, William Shakespeare did not seem destined for greatness. He was not born into a family of nobility or significant wealth. He did not continue his formal education at university, nor did he come under the mentorship of a senior artist, nor did he marry into wealth or prestige. His talent as an actor seems to have been modest, since he is not known for starring roles. His success as a playwright depended in part upon royal patronage. Yet in spite of these limitations, Shakespeare is now the most performed and read playwright in the world.Born to John Shakespeare, a glovemaker and tradesman, and Mary Arden, the daughter of an affluent farmer, William Shakespeare was baptized on April 26, 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon. At that time, infants were baptized three days after their birth, thus scholars believe that Shakespeare was born on April 23, the same day on which he died at age 52. As the third of eight children, young William grew up in this small town 100 miles northwest of London, far from the cultural and courtly center of England.Shakespeare attended the local grammar school, King's New School, where the curriculum would have stressed a classical education of Greek mythology, Roman comedy, ancient history, rhetoric, grammar, Latin, and possibly Greek. Throughout his childhood, Shakespeare's father struggled with serious financial debt. Therefore, unlike his fellow playwright Christopher Marlowe, he did not attend university. Rather, in 1582 at age 18, he married Anne Hathaway, a woman eight years his senior and three months pregnant. Their first child, Susanna, was born in 1583, and twins, Hamnet and Judith, came in 1585. In the seven years following their birth, the historical record concerning Shakespeare is incomplete, contradictory, and unreliable; scholars refer to this period as his lost years.In a 1592 pamphlet by Robert Greene, Shakespeare reappears as an upstart crow flapping his poetic wings in London. Evidently, it did not take him long to land on the stage. Between 1590 and 1592, Shakespeare'sHenry VIseries,Richard III, andThe Comedy of Errorswere performed. When the theaters were closed in 1593 because of the plague, the playwright wrote two narrative poems,Venus and AdonisandThe Rape of Lucrece, and probably began writing his richly textured sonnets. One hundred and fiftyfour of his sonnets have survived, ensuring his reputation as a gifted poet. By 1594, he had also written,The Taming of the Shrew,The Two Gentlemen of VeronaandLove's Labor's Lost.Having established himself as an actor and playwright, in 1594 Shakespeare became a shareholder in the Lord Chamberlain's Men, one of the most popular acting companies in London. He remained a member of this company for the rest of his career, often playing before the court of Queen Elizabeth I. Shakespeare entered one of his most prolific periods around 1595, writingRichard II,Romeo and Juliet,A Midsummer Night's Dream, andThe Merchant of Venice. With his newfound success, Shakespeare purchased the second largest home in Stratford in 1597, though he continued to live in London. Two years later, he joined others from the Lord Chamberlain's Men in establishing the polygonal Globe Theatre on the outskirts of London. When King James came to the throne in 1603, he issued a royal license to Shakespeare and his fellow players, organizing them as the King's Men. During King James's reign, Shakespeare wrote many of his most accomplished plays about courtly power, includingKing Lear,Macbeth, andAntony and Cleopatra. In 1609 or 1611, Shakespeare's sonnets were published, though he did not live to see theFirst Folioof his plays published in 1623.In 1616, with his health declining, Shakespeare revised his will. Since his only son Hamnet had died in 1596, Shakespeare left the bulk of his estate to his two daughters, with monetary gifts set aside for his sister, theater partners, friends, and the poor of Stratford. A fascinating detail of his will is that he bequeathed the family's second best bed to his wife Anne. He died one month later, on April 23, 1616. To the world, he left a lasting legacy in the form of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, and two narrative poems.When William Shakespeare died in his birthplace of Stratford-upon- Avon, he was recognized as one of the greatest English playwrights of his era. In the four centuries since, he has come to be seen as not only a great English playwright, but the greatest playwright in the English language. Reflecting upon the achievement of his peer and sometimes rival, Ben Jonson wrote of Shakespeare, He was not of an age, but for all time.A Fairy Song - Poem by William ShakespeareOver hill, over dale,Thorough bush, thorough brier,Over park, over pale,Thorough flood, thorough fire!I do wander everywhere,Swifter than the moon's sphere;And I serve the Fairy Queen,To dew her orbs upon the green;The cowslips tall her pensioners be;In their gold coats spots you see;Those be rubies, fairy favours;In those freckles live their savours;I must go seek some dewdrops here,And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.William ShakespeareShall I compare thee to a summer's day?Thou art more lovely and more temperate.Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,And summer's lease hath all too short a date.Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,And often is his gold complexion dimmed;And every fair from fair sometime declines,By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed;But thy eternal summer shall not fade,Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st.So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.William ShakespeareJohn DonneBiographyJohn Donne, leading English poet of the Metaphysical school, is often considered the greatest loved poet in the English language.SynopsisThe first two editions of John Donne's poems were published posthumously, in 1633 and 1635, after having circulated widely in manuscript copies. Readers continue to find stimulus in his fusion of witty argument with passion, his dramatic rendering of complex states of mind, and his ability to make common words yield up rich poetic meaning. Donne also wrote songs, sonnets and prose.ProfileJohn Donne was born into a Catholic family in 1572, during a strong anti-Catholic period in England. Donnes father, also named John, was a prosperous London merchant. His mother, Elizabeth Heywood, was the grand-niece of Catholic martyr Thomas More. Religion would play a tumultuous and passionate role in Johns life.Donnes father died in 1576, and his mother remarried a wealthy widower. He entered Oxford University at age 11 and later the University of Cambridge, but never received degrees, due to his Catholicism. At age 20, Donne began studying law at Lincolns Inn and seemed destined for a legal or diplomatic career. During the 1590s, he spent much of his inheritance on women, books and travel. He wrote most of his love lyrics and erotic poems during this time. His first books of poems, Satires and Songs and Sonnets, were highly prized among a small group of admirers.In 1593, John Donnes brother, Henry, was convicted of Catholic sympathies and died in prison soon after. The incident led John to question his Catholic faith and inspired some of his best writing on religion. At age 25, Donne was appointed private secretary to Sir Thomas Egerton, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England.On his way to a promising career, John Donne became a Member of Parliament in 1601. That same year, he married 16-year-old Anne More, the niece of Sir Egerton. Both Lord Egerton and Annes father, George More, strongly disapproved of the marriage, and, as punishment, More did not provide a dowry. Lord Egerton fired Donne and had him imprisoned for a short time. The eight years following Donnes release would be a struggle for the married couple until Annes father finally paid her dowry.In 1610, John Donne published his anti-Catholic polemic Pseudo-Martyr, renouncing his faith. In it, he proposed the argument that Roman Catholics could support James I without compromising their religious loyalty to the pope. This won him the kings favor and patronage from members of the House of Lords. In 1615, Donne converted to Anglicanism and was appointed Royal Chaplain. His elaborate metaphors, religious symbolism and flair for drama soon established him as a great preacher.In 1617, John Donnes wife died shortly after giving birth to their 12th child. The time for writing love poems was over, and Donne devoted his energies to more religious subjects. In 1621, Donne became dean of St. Pauls Cathedral. During a period of severe illness, he wrote Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, published in 1624. This work contains the immortal lines No man is an island and never send to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee. That same year, Donne was appointed Vicar of St. Dunstans-in-the-West and became known for his eloquent sermons.As John Donnes health continued to fail him, he became obsessed with death. Shortly before he died, he delivered a pre-funeral sermon, Deaths Duel. His writing was charismatic and inventive. His compelling examination of the mortal paradox influenced English poets for generations. Donnes work fell out of favor for a time, but was revived in the 20th century by high-profile admirers such as T.S. Eliot and William Butler Yeats.No Man Is An Island - Poem by John DonneNo man is an island,Entire of itself,Every man is a piece of the continent,A part of the main.If a clod be washed away by the sea,Europe is the less.As well as if a promontory were.As well as if a manor of thy friend'sOr of thine own were:Any man's death diminishes me,Because I am involved in mankind,And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;It tolls for thee.John DonneDeath Be Not Proud - Poem by John DonneDeath be not proud, though some have called theeMighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not soe,For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill mee.From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then?One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.John DonneGeorge HerbertBiographyGeorge Herbert was an ordained priest and poet. In 1633, his book The Temple: Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations was published posthumously.SynopsisGeorge Herbert was born on April 3, 1593, in Montgomery Castle, Wales. In 1620, he was elected orator of the University of Cambridge. By the following decade, however, he had left that post and become ordained priest. Herbert served two small, civil parishes located in Wiltshire, England, Fugglestone St. Peter and Bemerton. He also wrote a number of religious poems over the years, which he sent to friend Nicholas Ferrar. In 1633, Ferrar hadThe Temple: Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculationspublished. Herbert died in Bemerton, Wiltshire, England, on March 1, 1633.Early YearsBorn into a prominent family on April 3, 1593, in Montgomery Castle, Wales, George Herbert was an English poet who largely earned for acclaim for his work after his death. One of 10 children, he lost his father, Sir Richard Herbert, at age 3. His mother, Magdalen, moved the family to England, where she became a patron of the poet and clergyman John Donne. Herbert soon displayed his own gift for poetry, penning his earliest known works in her honor after her marriage to Sir John Danvers in 1609.Education and Early CareerHerbert studied at Westminster School and then attended Trinity College at Cambridge University, where he demonstrated his writing talents. He earned his bachelor's degree in 1613 and his master's degree in 1616. Herbert remained with the university after graduation as a fellow before becoming its public orator in 1620. He acted as a sort of an ambassador for the school in this role, writing and delivering speeches to King James.While still at the university, Herbert became an ordained deacon in 1624. His mother died in 1627 and he expressed his grief in verse, penning several poems in tribute to her. Herbert also resigned his post at Cambridge that same year. He married Jane Danvers in 1629.Poet and PastorHerbert devoted himself to religion in 1630 by taking responsibility for the parish of Fugglestone-cum-Bemerton, where he spent the final three years of his life. He wrote about this experience inA Priest to the Temple; or, The Country Parson,His Character and Rule of Holy Life, which was published after his death.While dying from tuberculosis, Herbert sent a collection of his poems to his friend Nicholas Ferrar. Shortly after Herbert passed away on March 1, 1633, Ferrar had the poems published in a book titledThe Temple: Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations. This collection featured such works as "The Altar," "The Storm" and "Love."Mattins - Poem by George HerbertI cannot ope mine eyes,But thou art ready there to catchMy morning-soul and sacrifice:Then we must needs for that day make a match.

My God, what is a heart?Silver, or gold, or precious stone,Or star, or rainbow, or a partOf all these things or all of them in one?

My God, what is a heart?That thou should'st it so eye, and woo,Pouring upon it all thy art,As if that thou hadst nothing else to do?

Indeed man's whole estateAmounts (and richly) to serve thee:He did not heav'n and earth create,Yet studies them, not him by whom they be.

Teach me thy love to know;That this new light, which now I see,May both the work and workman show:Then by a sun-beam I will climb to thee.George HerbertBitter-Sweet - Poem by George HerbertAutoplay next videoAh, my dear angry Lord,Since thou dost love, yet strike;Cast down, yet help afford;Sure I will do the like.

I will complain, yet praise;I will bewail, approve;And all my sour-sweet daysI will lament and love.George HerbertAbraham CowleyAbraham Cowley,(born1618,LondondiedJuly 28, 1667,Chertsey, Eng.),poet and essayist who wrotepoetryof a fanciful, decorous nature. He also adapted the Pindaricodeto English verse.Educated at Westminster school and the University of Cambridge, where he became a fellow, he was ejected in 1643 by the Parliament during the Civil War and joined the royal court at Oxford. He went abroad with the queens court in 1645 as her cipher secretary and performed various Royalist missions until his return toEnglandin 1656. Seemingly reconciled to the Commonwealth, he did not receive much reward after Charles II was restored in 1660 and retired to Chertsey, where he engaged in horticulture and wrote on the virtues of the contemplative life.Cowley tended to use grossly elaborate, self-consciously poetic language that decorated, rather than expressed, his feelings. In his adolescence he wrote verse (Poeticall Blossomes,1633, 1636, 1637) imitating the intricate rhyme schemes ofEdmund Spenser. InThe Mistress(1647, 1656) he exaggeratedJohn Donnesmetaphysical witjarring the readers sensibilities by unexpectedly comparing quite different thingsinto what later tastes felt was fanciful poetic nonsense. HisPindarique Odes(1656) try to reproduce the Latin poets enthusiastic manner through lines of uneven length and even more extravagant poetic conceits.Cowley also wrote an unfinished epic,Davideis(1656). His stage comedyThe Guardian(1641, revised 1661) introduced the fop Puny, who became a staple of Restoration comedy. As an amateur man of science he promoted theRoyal Society, publishingA Proposition for the Advancement of Experimental Philosophy(1661). In his retirement he wrote sober, reflective essays reminiscent of Montaigne.Cowley is often considered a transitional figure from the metaphysical poets to the Augustan poets of the 18th century. He was universally admired in his own day, but by 1737 Alexander Pope could write, justly: Who now reads Cowley? Perhaps his most effective poem is the elegy on the death of his friend and fellow poetRichard Crashaw.

The Given Heart - Poem by Abraham CowleyI wonder what those lovers mean, who sayThey have giv'n their hearts away.Some good kind lover tell me how;For mine is but a torment to me now.

If so it be one place both hearts contain,For what do they complain?What courtesy can Love do more,Than to join hearts that parted were before?

Woe to her stubborn heart, if once mine comeInto the self-same room;'Twill tear and blow up all within,Like a granado shot into a magazine.

Then shall Love keep the ashes, and torn parts,Of both our broken hearts:Shall out of both one new one make,From hers, th' allay; from mine, the metal take.

For of her heart he from the flames will findBut little left behind:Mine only will remain entire;No dross was there, to perish in the fire.Abraham CowleyBeauty - Poem by Abraham CowleyLIBERAL Nature did dispenceTo all things Arms for their defence;And some she arms with sin'ewy force,And some with swiftness in the course;Some with hard Hoofs, or forked claws,And some with Horns, or tusked jaws.And some with Scales, and some with Wings,And some with Teeth, and some with Stings.Wisdom to Man she did afford,Wisdom for Shield, and Wit for Sword.What to beauteous Woman-kind,What Arms, what Armour has she'assigne'd?Beauty is both; for with the FaireWhat Arms, what Armour can compare?What Steel, what Gold, or Diamond,More Impassible is found?And yet what Flame, what Lightning ereSo great an Active force did bear?They are all weapon, and they dartLike Porcupines from every part.Who can, alas, their strength express,Arm'd when they themselves undress,Cap a pe* with Nakedness?Abraham CowleyBiography of Andrew Marvell

Andrew Marvell an English metaphysical poet, Parliamentarian, and the son of a Church of England clergyman (also named Andrew Marvell). As a metaphysical poet, he is associated with John Donne and George Herbert. He was a colleague and friend of John Milton.

Marvell was born in Winestead-in-Holderness, East Riding of Yorkshire, near the city of Kingston upon Hull. The family moved to Hull when his father was appointed Lecturer at Holy Trinity Church there, and Marvell was educated at Hull Grammar School. A secondary school in the city is now named after him.

His most famous poems include To His Coy Mistress, The Garden, An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland, The Mower's Song and the country house poem Upon Appleton House.

Early Life

At the age of twelve, Marvell attended Trinity College, Cambridge and eventually received his BA degree. Afterwards, from the middle of 1642 onwards, Marvell probably travelled in continental Europe. He may well have served as a tutor for an aristocrat on the Grand Tour; but the facts are not clear on this point. While England was embroiled in the civil war, Marvell seems to have remained on the continent until 1647. It is not known exactly where his travels took him, except that he was in Rome in 1645 and Milton later reported that Marvell had mastered four languages, including French, Italian and Spanish.

First poems and Marvell's time at Nun Appleton

Marvell's first poems, which were written in Latin and Greek and published when he was still at Cambridge, lamented a visitation of the plague and celebrated the birth of a child to King Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria. He only belatedly became sympathetic to the successive regimes during the Interregnum after Charles I's execution, which took place 30 January 1649. His Horatian Ode, a political poem dated to early 1650, responds with sorrow to the regicide even as it praises Oliver Cromwell's return from Ireland.

Circa 1650-52, Marvell served as tutor to the daughter of the Lord General Thomas Fairfax, who had recently relinquished command of the Parliamentary army to Cromwell. He lived during that time at Nun Appleton House, near York, where he continued to write poetry. One poem, Upon Appleton House, To My Lord Fairfax, uses a description of the estate as a way of exploring Fairfax's and Marvell's own situation in a time of war and political change. Probably the best-known poem he wrote at this time was To His Coy Mistress.

Marvell's poetic style

Marvells poetry is often witty and full of elaborate conceits in the elegant style of the metaphysical poets. Many poems were inspired by events of the time, public or personal. The Picture of Little TC in a Prospect of Flowers was written about the daughter of one of Marvell's friends, Theophila Cornwell, who was named after an elder sister who had died as a baby. Marvell uses the picture of her surrounded by flowers in a garden to convey the transience of spring and the fragility of childhood. This poem's title is ironically echoed by John Ashbery's poem "The Picture of Little JA in a Prospect of Flowers."

Others were written in the pastoral style of the classical Roman authors. Even here, Marvell tends to place a particular picture before us. In The Nymph Complaining for the Death of her Fawn, the nymph weeps for the little animal as it dies, and tells us how it consoled her for her betrayal in love.

His pastoral poems, including Upon Appleton House achieve originality and a unique tone through his reworking and subversion of the pastoral genre.Bermudas - Poem by Andrew MarvellWhere the remote Bermudas rideIn th' Oceans bosome unespy'd,From a small Boat, that row'd along,The listning Winds receiv'd this Song.What should we do but sing his PraiseThat led us through the watry Maze,Unto an Isle so long unknown,And yet far kinder than our own?Where he the huge Sea-Monsters wracks,That lift the Deep upon their Backs.He lands us on a grassy stage;Safe from the Storms, and Prelat's rage.He gave us this eternal Spring,Which here enamells every thing;And sends the Fowl's to us in care,On daily Visits through the Air,He hangs in shades the Orange bright,Like golden Lamps in a green Night.And does in the Pomgranates close,Jewels more rich than Ormus show's.He makes the Figs our mouths to meet;And throws the Melons at our feet.But Apples plants of such a price,No Tree could ever bear them twice.With Cedars, chosen by his hand,From Lebanon, he stores the Land.And makes the hollow Seas, that roar,Proclaime the Ambergris on shoar.He cast (of which we rather boast)The Gospels Pearl upon our coast.And in these Rocks for us did frameA Temple, where to sound his Name.Oh let our Voice his Praise exalt,Till it arrive at Heavens Vault:Which thence (perhaps) rebounding, mayEccho beyond the Mexique Bay.Thus sung they, in the English boat,An holy and a chearful Note,And all the way, to guide their Chime,With falling Oars they kept the time.Andrew MarvellThe Definition Of Love - Poem by Andrew MarvellMy Love is of a birth as rareAs 'tis for object strange and high:It was begotten by despairUpon Impossibility.

Magnanimous Despair alone.Could show me so divine a thing,Where feeble Hope could ne'r have flownBut vainly flapt its Tinsel Wing.

And yet I quickly might arriveWhere my extended Soul is fixt,But Fate does Iron wedges drive,And alwaies crouds it self betwixt.

For Fate with jealous Eye does see.Two perfect Loves; nor lets them close:Their union would her ruine be,And her Tyrannick pow'r depose.

And therefore her Decrees of SteelUs as the distant Poles have plac'd,(Though Loves whole World on us doth wheel)Not by themselves to be embrac'd.

Unless the giddy Heaven fall,And Earth some new Convulsion tear;And, us to joyn, the World should allBe cramp'd into a Planisphere.

As Lines so Loves Oblique may wellThemselves in every Angle greet:But ours so truly Paralel,Though infinite can never meet.

Therefore the Love which us doth bind,But Fate so enviously debarrs,Is the Conjunction of the Mind,And Opposition of the Stars.Andrew Marvell