Alexander Brome (1620 – 30 June 1666) was an English
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...
.
Life
Brome was by profession an
attorney, and was the author of many
drinking song
A drinking song is a song sung while drinking Alcoholic beverage, alcohol. Most drinking songs are Folk music, folk songs or commercium songs, and may be varied from person to person and region to region, in both the lyrics and in the music.
...
s and of
satirical
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...
verses in favour of the
Royalists
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governm ...
and in opposition to the
Rump Parliament
The Rump Parliament was the English Parliament after Colonel Thomas Pride commanded soldiers to purge the Long Parliament, on 6 December 1648, of those members hostile to the Grandees' intention to try King Charles I for high treason.
"Rump" n ...
. In 1661, following the
Restoration
Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to:
* Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage
** Audio restoration
** Film restoration
** Image restoration
** Textile restoration
* Restoration ecology
...
, he published ''Songs and other Poems'', containing songs on various subjects, followed by a series of political songs; ballads,
epistle
An epistle (; el, ἐπιστολή, ''epistolē,'' "letter") is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of people, usually an elegant and formal didactic letter. The epistle genre of letter-writing was common in ancient Egypt as par ...
s,
elegies
An elegy is a poem of serious reflection, and in English literature usually a lament for the dead. However, according to ''The Oxford Handbook of the Elegy'', "for all of its pervasiveness ... the 'elegy' remains remarkably ill defined: sometime ...
and
epitaph
An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...
s;
epigram
An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two mille ...
s and translations.
Izaak Walton wrote an introductory
eclogue
An eclogue is a poem in a classical style on a pastoral subject. Poems in the genre are sometimes also called bucolics.
Overview
The form of the word ''eclogue'' in contemporary English developed from Middle English , which came from Latin , whi ...
for this volume in praise of the writer, and his gaiety and wit won him the title of the English
Anacreon
Anacreon (; grc-gre, Ἀνακρέων ὁ Τήϊος; BC) was a Greek lyric poet, notable for his drinking songs and erotic poems. Later Greeks included him in the canonical list of Nine Lyric Poets. Anacreon wrote all of his poetry in the ...
in
Edward Phillips
Edward Phillips (August 1630 – c. 1696) was an English author.
Life
He was the son of Edward Phillips of the crown office in chancery, and his wife Anne, only sister of John Milton, the poet. Edward Phillips the younger was born in Strand, L ...
's ''Theatrum Poetarum''.
[''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 1911]
Brome published a translation of
Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...
by himself and others in 1666, and was the author of a comedy entitled ''The Cunning Lovers'' (1654). He also edited two volumes of
Richard Brome
Richard Brome ; (c. 1590? – 24 September 1652) was an English dramatist of the Caroline era.
Life
Virtually nothing is known about Brome's private life. Repeated allusions in contemporary works, like Ben Jonson's ''Bartholomew Fair'', ind ...
's plays.
[
He died in his house in Barge Yard in the parish of St Stephen Walbrook in the ]City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...
in June 1666, and was buried in the parish church.
References
Sources
*McWilliams, J. H. (2006)
"Brome, Alexander"
In Kastan, David Scott (ed.). ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature''. Oxford University Press.
*
1620 births
1666 deaths
17th-century English poets
17th-century English male writers
17th-century English dramatists and playwrights
English translators
English dramatists and playwrights
English male dramatists and playwrights
English male poets
English male non-fiction writers
17th-century English translators
Burials at St Stephen Walbrook
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