William Warner, (1558? - 9 March 1609), was an
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
poetA poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
.
He was born in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
about 1558.
He was educated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, but left the university without taking a degree. He practised in London as an
attorneyA lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person licensed to practice law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain stability, and deliver...
, and gained a great reputation among his contemporaries as a poet. Warner died suddenly at
AmwellAmwell can refer to:* Amwell, Hertfordshire in England* Amwell Township, New Jersey in the USA* Amwell Township, Pennsylvania in the USA* Amwell, London , an urban village and part of the district of Clerkenwell in London, UK....
in
HertfordshireHertfordshire , abbreviated Herts, is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford....
on 9 March 1609.
His chief work is a long poem in fourteen-syllabled verse, entitled
Albion's England (1586), and dedicated to
Henry Carey, 1st Baron HunsdonHenry Carey , 1st Baron Hunsdon of Hunsdon was an English nobleman.He was the son of Mary Boleyn -- the sister of Anne Boleyn and also mistress to King Henry VIII of England...
.
William Warner, (1558? - 9 March 1609), was an
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
poetA poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
.
Life
He was born in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
about 1558.
He was educated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, but left the university without taking a degree. He practised in London as an
attorneyA lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person licensed to practice law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain stability, and deliver...
, and gained a great reputation among his contemporaries as a poet. Warner died suddenly at
AmwellAmwell can refer to:* Amwell, Hertfordshire in England* Amwell Township, New Jersey in the USA* Amwell Township, Pennsylvania in the USA* Amwell, London , an urban village and part of the district of Clerkenwell in London, UK....
in
HertfordshireHertfordshire , abbreviated Herts, is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford....
on 9 March 1609.
Works
His chief work is a long poem in fourteen-syllabled verse, entitled
Albion's England (1586), and dedicated to
Henry Carey, 1st Baron HunsdonHenry Carey , 1st Baron Hunsdon of Hunsdon was an English nobleman.He was the son of Mary Boleyn -- the sister of Anne Boleyn and also mistress to King Henry VIII of England...
. His history of his country begins with
NoahNoah was, according to the Bible, the tenth and last of the antediluvian Patriarchs; and a prophet according to the Qur'an...
, and is brought down to Warner's own time including the beheading of Mary Queen of Scots. The chronicle is by no means continuous, and is varied by fictitious episodes, the best known of which is the idyll in the fourth book of the loves of Argentine, the daughter of the king of Deira, and the Danish prince, Curan. Here Warner's simple art shows itself at its best. His book, perhaps on account of its patriotic subject, was very popular, but it is difficult to understand how
Francis MeresFrancis Meres was an English churchman and author.He was born at Kirton in the Holland division of Lincolnshire in 1565. He was educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he received a B.A. in 1587 and an M.A. in 1591. Two years later he was incorporated an M.A. of Oxford...
came to rank him with
SpenserEdmund Spenser was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem celebrating, through fantastical allegory, the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of Modern English verse in its infancy.-Life:Edmund Spenser was born in London around 1552...
as the chief heroical poets of the day, and to institute a comparison between him and
EuripidesEuripides was the lastof the three great tragedians of classical Athens . Ancient scholars thought that Euripides had written ninety-five plays, although four of those were probably written by Critias...
.
His other works are
Pan his Syrinx, or Pipe, Compact of Seven Reedes (1584), a collection of prose tales; and a translation of the
Menæchmi of
PlautusTitus Maccius Plautus , commonly known as Plautus, was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are among the earliest surviving intact works in Latin literature. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the genre devised by the innovator of Latin literature, Livius Andronicus...
(1595).
Albion's England consisted originally of four "books," but the number was increased in successive issues, and a posthumous edition (1612) contains sixteen books. It was reprinted (1810) in
Alexander ChalmersAlexander Chalmers was a Scottish writer.He was born in Aberdeen.Trained as a doctor, he gave up medicine for journalism, and was for some time editor of the Morning Herald...
's
English Poets.