Main Poets of the Elizabethan Age
1- Edmund Spenser
2- Philip Sidney
3- Michael Drayton
1-Edmund Spenser (1552-1599)
Born in- East Smithfield, London.
Father- John Spenser
Educated at- Merchant Taylor’s school and Pembroke Hall, Cambridge
First Poetic work- The Shepheard’s Calendar (1579) at Kent, dedicated to Philip Sidney. It is a series of eclogues (short poems).
Wife- Elizabeth Boyle, Married in 1594
Works- 1- The Shepheard’s Calendar (1579), dedicated to Philip Sidney
2- The Faerie Queene (1590-1596), offered Elizabeth, in an attempt to gain her favour
3- Amoretti (1595), recorded his marriage
4- Epithalamion (1595), marriage song, dedicated to Elizabeth Boyle, his young bride.
5- Astrophel (1595), a pastoral Elegy upon the death of the most Noble and Valorous Knight, Sir Philip Sidney.
6- Prothalamion (1596)
2-Philip Sidney (1554-1586)
Born at- Penshurst, in Kent, England, 29th November, 1554
Father- Henry Sidney, a close companion of ‘King Edward VI
Mother- Lady Mary Dudley
Life-long friend- Fulke Greville
Received- The title of Knighthood (1583)
Travelled- Germany, Italy, Austria
Works- 1- The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia (1590),
(pastoral romance)
2- Astrophel and Stella (1591), (108 sonnets and 11 songs) dedicated to Penelope Devereux, a girl of only 12 years old.
3- An Apology for Poetry [ A Defence of ‘Poesie’ and The Defence of ‘Poetry’] (1595)
3-Michael Drayton (1563-1631)
Born at- Hartshill in Warwickshire in 1563
He wanted to be a poet from early age
His Boss Sir Henry Goodeere of Polesworth Provided his Education.
First work-‘The Harmony of The Church’ (1591)
Works- 1- Idea, the Shepherd’s Garland (1593), pastoral form, consisted of 9 eclogues.
2- Idea Mirrour (1594), collection of love sonnets.
3- Endymon and Phoebe (1595)
4- Robert, Duke of Normandy (1596)
5- Mortimeriados (1596)
6- England’s Heroical Epistles (1597), one of his finest works, a collection of verse letters by lovers.
7- Poly-Olbion (1622), is one of the longest poems in English.
