Poets of the 16th century

William Shakespeare

For all his fame and celebration, William Shakespeare remains a mysterious figure with regards
to personal history. There are just two primary sources for information on the Bard: his works,
and various legal and church documents that have survived from Elizabethan times. Naturally,
there are many gaps in this body of information, which tells us little about Shakespeare the man.

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, allegedly on April 23, 1564. Church
records from Holy Trinity Church indicate that he was baptized there on April 26, 1564. Young
William was born of John Shakespeare, a glover and leather merchant, and Mary Arden, a landed
heiress. William, according to the church register, was the third of eight children the Shakespeare
household—three of whom died in childhood. John Shakespeare had a remarkable run of success
as a merchant, and later as an alderman and high bailiff of Stratford, during William's early
childhood. His fortunes declined, however, in the 1570s.

There is great conjecture about Shakespeare's childhood years, especially regarding his
education. It is surmised by scholars that Shakespeare attended the free grammar school in
Stratford, which at the time had a reputation to rival Eton. While there are no records extant to
prove this claim, Shakespeare's knowledge of Latin and Classical Greek would tend to support
this theory. In addition, Shakespeare's first biographer, Nicholas Rowe, wrote that John
Shakespeare had placed William "for some time in a free school." John Shakespeare, as a
Stratford official, would have been granted a waiver of tuition for his son. As the records do not
exist, we do not know how long William attended the school, but certainly the literary quality of

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his works suggest a solid education. What is certain is that William Shakespeare never proceeded
to university schooling, which has stirred some of the debate concerning the authorship of his
works.

The next documented event in Shakespeare's life is his marriage to Anne Hathaway on
November 28, 1582. William was 18 at the time, and Anne was 26—and pregnant. Their first
daughter, Susanna, was born on May 26, 1583. The couple later had twins, Hamnet and Judith,
born February 2, 1585 and christened at Holy Trinity. Hamnet died in childhood at the age of 11,
on August 11, 1596.

For seven years, William Shakespeare effectively disappears from all records, turning up in
London circa 1592. This has sparked as much controversy about Shakepeare's life as any period.
Rowe notes that young Shakespeare was quite fond of poaching, and may have had to flee
Stratford after an incident with Sir Thomas Lucy, whose lands he allegedly hunted. There is also
rumor of Shakespeare working as an assistant schoolmaster in Lancashire for a time, though this
is circumstantial at best. It is estimated that Shakespeare arrived in London around 1588 and
began to establish himself as an actor and playwright. Evidently, Shakespeare garnered envy
early on for his talent, as related by the critical attack of Robert Greene, a London playwright, in
1592: "...an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tiger's heart wrapped in a
player's hide, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blank verse as the best of you: and
being an absolute Johannes fac totum, is in his own conceit the only Shake-scene in a country."

Greene's bombast notwithstanding, Shakespeare must have shown considerable promise. By

1594, he was not only acting and writing for the Lord Chamberlain's Men (called the King's Men
after the ascension of James I in 1603), but was a managing partner in the operation as well.
With Will Kempe, a master comedian, and Richard Burbage, a leading tragic actor of the day,
the Lord Chamberlain's Men became a favorite London troupe, patronized by royalty and made
popular by the theatre-going public. When the plague forced theatre closings in the mid-1590s,
Shakespeare and his company made plans for the Globe Theatre in the Bankside district, which
was across the river from London proper.

Shakespeare's success is apparent when studied against other playwrights of this age. His
company was the most successful in London in his day. He had plays published and sold in
octavo editions, or "penny-copies" to the more literate of his audiences. It is noted that never
before had a playwright enjoyed sufficient acclaim to see his works published and sold as
popular literature in the midst of his career. While Shakespeare could not be accounted wealthy,
by London standards, his success allowed him to purchase New House and retire in comfort to
Stratford in 1611.

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Some of his most famous creations are

Dirge

Carpe Diem

Bridal Song

Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind

Aubade

Edmund Spenser

Edmund was the eldest son of John Spenser, a Lancastrian gentleman by birth who had become a
journeyman of the Merchant Taylors' Company. Spencer attended the recently-founded
Merchant Taylors' School and then went to Pembroke Hall in Cambridge. While still at
university he wrote some verses in the style of Petrarch and Du Bellay, and these were published
in van der Noodt's "Theatre for Worldlings". On leaving Cambridge, Spenser became secretary
to John Young, the bishop of Rochester. In 1579 he obtained a place in the Earl of Leicester's
household where he made friends with the Earl's nephew, Philip Sidney. He wrote the
Shepheardes Calender at this time. The following year he began work on The Faerie Queene

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though he published none of it until 1589 when he entrusted the first three books to his London
publisher, Ponsonby. He also married his first wife, Machabyas Chylde, at about this time. In
1580 Spenser was appointed secretary to Lord Grey of Wilton and attended him on his trip to
Ireland. Spenser returned to settle in Ireland in 1591 and wrote Colin Clouts in this year. He
became a landowner and returned to London only to supervise the publication of his poetry. He
married again to Elizabeth Boyle in 1594 and his poems Amoretti and Epithalamion celebrate the
wooing and marriage.

During a local insurrection in 1598, Spenser's home Kilcoman Castle was burnt and Spenser had
to flee to Cork along with his wife and children. It is feared that some of his work was lost
during this fire. Spenser died in London, in some distress.

Some of his most famous creations are

Amoretti LXXV: One Day I Wrote Her Name

Ice and Fire

The Faerie Queene: Book I, Canto I

Poem 1

Sonnet LIIII

Sonnet I

Sonnet XXVI

The Tamed Deer

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 Poets of the 16th century

Sir Walter Raleigh

Sir Walter Raleigh signed his name many different ways. Once, in 1578, he signed it Rawleyghe.
Until 1583 he signed it Rauley. From 1584 until 1618, when he was executed, he signed it
Ralegh. Today, people prefer to spell it Raleigh.

He is thought to have been born around 1552 at Hayes Barton, Devonshire, England.

He fought for the Huguenots in 1596.

He privateered with his half brother Sir Humphrey Gilbert. Privateering is when the queen or
king gives permission to seize other ships at sea and take their cargos. It was legal pirating.

Raleigh was one of Queen Elizabeth's favorite courtiers. He was also well known for his writing
and poetry.

“On March 25,1584, Raleigh received a patent from the queen granting him title to any lands he
might discover and claim in the name of the crown.”

In 1584, Raleigh sent an expedition from Plymouth,England, which was commanded by Phillip
Amadas and Arthur Barlowe. They landed off the coast of what is now known as North Carolina,
on July 13,1584.When they returned, they brought back two Native Americans named Manteo
and Wanchese. As a result of this, Raleigh was knighted on January 6,1585 by Queen Elizabeth
I.

Some of his most famous creations are

Even Such is Time

His Pilgrimage

The Lie

The Silent Lover (i)

The Silent Lover (ii)

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Sir Philip Sidney

Sir Philip Sidney was born at Penshurst Place, Kent, eldest son of Sir
Henry Sidney. He entered Shrewsbury School in 1564 on the same day
as Fulke Greville, his friend and biographer. After attending Christ
Church, Oxford (1568-72), he travelled in Europe where for three years
he perfected his knowledge of Latin, French and Italian. In 1577, aged
twenty-two, he was sent as ambassador to the German Emperor and the
Prince of Orange. His strong Protestant sympathies made him advise
Elizabeth I in a private letter (1579) against marrying the Duke of
Anjou, Roman Catholic heir to the French throne. He was knighted in
1583 and became Member of Parliament for Kent in 1581 and 1584-85.
In 1585 he was appointed joint master of the ordnance, the office in
charge of the country's military supplies. A patron of scholars, his wide
range of interests accounted for the dedication to him of over forty works of various disciplines.
The best-known poet to enjoy his patronage was Spenser who dedicated his Shepherd's Calendar
to him. Avoiding commercialism, he did not publish his works in his lifetime. He was fighting
against the Spaniards in the Netherlands when he received a wound which eventually killed him
at the age of thirty-two. All England mourned this courtier and statesman who had embodied the
Elizabethan ideal of virtue.

Some of his most famous creations are

The Bargain

The Highway

His Lady's Cruelty

Sleep

Splendidis longum valedico Nugis

Voices at the Window

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Christopher Marlowe

The son of a shoemaker, Marlowe was born two months before Shakespeare. A great wit and a
precocious talent, he won scholarships first into King's School, Canterbury, and later into Corpus
College, Cambridge where he received his Batchelor of Arts degree in 1583 and his Master of
Arts in 1587. He joined a company of actors called the Admiral's Men who brought his first great
play, Tamburlaine the Great (1587), to the stage. Its success inspired him to follow up with Part
Two of the play a year later. He joined the secret diplomatic service whilst continuing to write
such great plays as Dr Faustus and The Jew of Malta. His plays dealt with the corruption of
power (as in Tamburlaine), of knowledge (as in Faustus), and of money (as in the Jew). When a
plague caused London theatres to close in 1592, he went and lived with a patron, Thomas
Walsingham, under whose brother he had worked as a secret agent. He was suspected of atheistic
and blasphemous writings and was still being investigated by the London privy council when he
died. He had been gambling at backgammon in a Deptford tavern with three other men when one
of them stabbed him fatally after a quarrel. He was twenty-nine.

Some of his most famous creations are

Accurs'd be he that first invented war!

Ignoto

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I Must Have Wanton Poets

Our Conquering Swords

The Passionate Shepherd to his Love

BIBLOGRAPHY

www.famouspoetsandpoems.com

www.poetry-archive.com

www.poemhunter.com

www.wikipedia.com

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