Thomas Shadwell ( – 19 November 1692) was an English poet and playwright who was appointed
Poet Laureate
A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch ...
in 1689.
Life
Shadwell was born at either Bromehill Farm,
Weeting-with-Broomhill
Weeting-with-Broomhill is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk.
It covers an area of and had a population of 1,751 in 786 households at the 2001 census, the population increasing to 1,839 in 814 households at the 2011 Census. The ...
or Santon House,
Lynford
Lynford is a village and civil parish in the Breckland District of Norfolk. The parish covers an area of , and the 2001 Census recorded a population of 157 in 81 households. Lynford lies north east of Brandon and between Mundford, to the nort ...
,
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
, and educated at
Bury St Edmunds School, and at
Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of t ...
, which he entered in 1656. He left the university without a degree, and joined the
Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...
. At the
Whig triumph in 1688, he superseded
John Dryden
''
John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate.
He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the per ...
as poet laureate and historiographer royal. He died at Chelsea on 19 November 1692.
[Thomas Shadwell](_blank)
He was buried in
Chelsea Old Church
Chelsea Old Church, also known as All Saints, is an Anglican church, on Old Church Street, Chelsea, London SW3, England, near Albert Bridge. It is the church for a parish in the Diocese of London, part of the Church of England. Inside the Grade ...
, but his tomb was destroyed by wartime bombing. A memorial to him with a bust by
Francis Bird
Francis Bird (1667–1731) was one of the leading English sculptors of his time. He is mainly remembered for sculptures in Westminster Abbey and St Paul's Cathedral. He carved a tomb for the dramatist William Congreve in Westminster Abbey and ...
survives in
Poets' Corner
Poets' Corner is the name traditionally given to a section of the South Transept of Westminster Abbey in the City of Westminster, London because of the high number of poets, playwrights, and writers buried and commemorated there.
The first poe ...
in
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...
.
He was married to the actress
Anne Shadwell
Anne Shadwell was an English stage actor of the seventeenth century. She was one of the first English actresses to appear on stage following the Restoration She was one of six actors recruited in 1660 by William Davenant for the new Duke's Compa ...
, who appeared in several of his plays. They had four children including the playwright
Charles Shadwell and John Shadwell, a
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
who attended to both
Queen Anne and
George I George I or 1 may refer to:
People
* Patriarch George I of Alexandria (fl. 621–631)
* George I of Constantinople (d. 686)
* George I of Antioch (d. 790)
* George I of Abkhazia (ruled 872/3–878/9)
* George I of Georgia (d. 1027)
* Yuri Dolgor ...
.
[Highfill, Philip H, Burnim, Kalman A. & Langhans, Edward A. ''A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers & Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660-1800, Volume 13''. SIU Press, 1991. p.276]
Works
In 1668 he produced a prose comedy, ''
The Sullen Lovers'', or the ''Impertinents'', based on ''Les Fâcheux'' by
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and world ...
, and written in open imitation of
Ben Jonson
Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...
's comedy of humours. His best plays are ''
Epsom Wells
''Epsom Wells'' is a 1672 restoration comedy by the English writer Thomas Shadwell. It was the first in a line of plays set in spa towns. The incidental music was composed by Nicholas Staggins. In the 1690s Henry Purcell scored a new staging of ...
'' (1672), for which Sir
Charles Sedley wrote a prologue, and ''
The Squire of Alsatia
''The Squire of Alsatia'' is a 1688 comedy play by the English writer Thomas Shadwell. Alsatia was a nickname for the Whitefriars area of London, deriving from Alsace in northeastern France. A restoration comedy, it was performed at the Drury ...
'' (1688).
Alsatia
Whitefriars is an area in the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London.
Until 1540, it was the site of a Carmelite monastery, from which it gets its name.
History
The area takes its name from the medieval Carmelite religious house, know ...
was the
cant
Cant, CANT, canting, or canted may refer to:
Language
* Cant (language), a secret language
* Beurla Reagaird, a language of the Scottish Highland Travellers
* Scottish Cant, a language of the Scottish Lowland Travellers
* Shelta or the Cant, a la ...
name for the
Whitefriars area of London, then a kind of sanctuary for persons liable to arrest, and the play represents, in dialogue full of the local
argot
A cant is the jargon or language of a group, often employed to exclude or mislead people outside the group.McArthur, T. (ed.) ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (1992) Oxford University Press It may also be called a cryptolect, argo ...
, the adventures of a young heir who falls into the hands of the sharpers there.
[Shadwell](_blank)
[Thomas Shadwell biography](_blank)
For fourteen years from the production of his first comedy to his memorable encounter with
John Dryden
''
John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate.
He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the per ...
, Shadwell produced a play nearly every year. These productions display a hatred of sham, and a rough but honest moral purpose. Although bawdy, they present a vivid picture of contemporary manners.
Shadwell is chiefly remembered as the unfortunate
Mac Flecknoe
''Mac Flecknoe'' (full title: ''Mac Flecknoe; or, A satyr upon the True-Blue-Protestant Poet, T.S.''Cox, Michael, editor, ''The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature'', Oxford University Press, 2004, ) is a verse mock-heroic satire writte ...
of Dryden's satire, the "last great prophet of
tautology", and the literary son and heir of
Richard Flecknoe
Richard Flecknoe (c. 1600 – 1678) was an English dramatist, poet and musician. He is remembered for being made the butt of satires by Andrew Marvell in 1681 and by John Dryden in '' Mac Flecknoe'' in 1682.
Life
Little is known of Flecknoe's li ...
:
"The rest to some faint meaning make pretense,
But Shadwell never deviates into sense."
Dryden had furnished Shadwell with a prologue to his ''True Widow'' (1679) and, in spite of momentary differences, the two had been on friendly terms. But when Dryden joined the court party, and produced ''
Absalom and Achitophel
''Absalom and Achitophel'' is a celebrated satirical poem by John Dryden, written in heroic couplets and first published in 1681. The poem tells the Biblical tale of the rebellion of Absalom against King David; in this context it is an all ...
'' and ''The Medal'', Shadwell became the champion of the
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
s, and made a scurrilous attack on Dryden in ''The Medal of John Bayes: a Satire against Folly and Knavery'' (1682). Dryden immediately retorted in ''Mac Flecknoe, or a Satire on the True Blue Protestant Poet, T.S.'' (1682), in which Shadwell's personalities were returned with interest. A month later he contributed to
Nahum Tate
Nahum Tate ( ; 1652 – 30 July 1715) was an Irish poet, hymnist and lyricist, who became Poet Laureate in 1692. Tate is best known for ''The History of King Lear'', his 1681 adaptation of Shakespeare's ''King Lear'', and for his libretto for ...
's continuation of ''Absalom and Achitophel'' satirical portraits of
Elkanah Settle
Elkanah Settle (1 February 1648 – 12 February 1724) was an English poet and playwright.
Biography
He was born at Dunstable, and entered Trinity College, Oxford, in 1666, but left without taking a degree. His first tragedy, '' Cambyses, King ...
as
Doeg and of Shadwell as
Og. In 1687, Shadwell attempted to answer these attacks in a version of
Juvenal's 10th Satire.
However, Dryden's portrait of Shadwell in ''Absalom and Achitophel'' cut far deeper, and has withstood the test of time. In this satire, Dryden noted of Settle and Shadwell:
Two fools that crutch their feeble sense on verse;
Who, by my muse, to all succeeding times
Shall live, in spite of their own doggrel rhymes;
Nonetheless, Shadwell, due to the
Whig triumph in 1688, superseded his enemy as
Poet Laureate
A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch ...
and
historiographer
Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians hav ...
royal.
His son,
Charles Shadwell was also a playwright. A scene from his play, ''The
Stockjobber
Stockjobbers were institutions that acted as market makers in the London Stock Exchange. The business of stockjobbing emerged in the 1690s during England's Financial Revolution. During the 18th century the jobbers attracted numerous critiques from ...
s'' was included as an introduction in
Caryl Churchill's ''Serious Money'' (1987).
Poems
''Dear Pretty Youth ''
''Love in their little veins inspires ''
''Nymphs and Shepherds ''
Bibliography
A complete edition of Shadwell's works was published by another son, Sir John Shadwell, in 1720. Thomas Shadwell's other dramatic works are:
*''
The Sullen Lovers'' (1668), adapted from
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and world ...
*''The Royal Shepherdess'' (1669), an adaptation of John Fountain's ''Rewards of Virtue''
*''The Humorist'' (1671)
*''The Miser'' (1672), adapted from Molière
*''
Psyche
Psyche (''Psyché'' in French) is the Greek term for "soul" (ψυχή).
Psyche may also refer to:
Psychology
* Psyche (psychology), the totality of the human mind, conscious and unconscious
* ''Psyche'', an 1846 book about the unconscious by Car ...
'' (1675)
*''
The Libertine'' (1676)
*''
The Virtuoso'' (1676)
*''
The History of Timon of Athens the Man-hater
''The History of Timon of Athens the Man-hater'' by Thomas Shadwell is a 1678 adaptation of ''Timon of Athens'', the play by William Shakespeare.
History
It was originally acted out at the Dukes Theatre, licensed by Roger L'Estrange, Februa ...
'' (1678),--on this Shakespearian adaptation see Oscar Beber's inaugural dissertation, ''Thom. Shadwell's Bearbeitung des Shakespeare'schen "Timon of Athens"'' (Rostock, 1897)
*''
A True Widow'' (1679)
*''
The Woman Captain
''The Woman Captain; Or, The Usurer Turned Soldier'' is a 1679 comedy by the English writer Thomas Shadwell. It was originally staged by the Duke's Company at Dorset Garden Theatre in London. The original cast is unknown except for Elizabeth ...
'' (1680), revived in 1744 as ''The Prodigal''
*''The Lancashire Witches and Teague O'Divelly, the Irish Priest'' (1682)
*''
Bury Fair
''Bury Fair'' is a 1689 comedy play by the English writer Thomas Shadwell. It is part of the tradition of Restoration Comedy that flourished during the era. It was first staged by the United Company at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London.
T ...
'' (1689)
*''The Amorous Bigot'', with the second part of ''Teague O'Divelly'' (1690)
*''The Scowerers'' (1691)
*''
The Volunteers'', or ''Stockjobbers'', published posthumously (1693)
See also
*
Restoration comedy
Notes
References
*
External links
*
*
*
14 Shadwell Plays Online.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shadwell, Thomas
1640s births
1692 deaths
British Poets Laureate
Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Members of the Green Ribbon Club
People from Norfolk
Year of birth uncertain
17th-century English dramatists and playwrights
17th-century English poets
17th-century English male writers
English male dramatists and playwrights
English male poets
Burials at Chelsea Old Church