Curated playlist
17th-century English male writers
- James MabbeDid James Mabbe write a verse in Shakespeare's First Folio? A poem there is signed only "I. M."
- William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare called himself in "perfect health" in his will, then died within a month.
- John Davies of HerefordIn 2007, scholar Brian Vickers argued that a poem printed with Shakespeare's Sonnets was by John Davies of Hereford.
- George Wyatt (writer)George Wyatt was born just as his father was being led to the scaffold. His father had led a failed rebellion.
- Ben JonsonBen Jonson killed a man in a duel and escaped hanging by reciting a Bible verse.
- John MiltonJohn Milton sold Paradise Lost for five pounds. The blind poet handed it to a publisher in April 1667.
- John LockeJohn Locke's phrase "long train of abuses" appears word for word in the Declaration of Independence.
- Leonard Digges (writer)Leonard Digges translated a Spanish text in 1622, and John Fletcher used it for two plays.
- Isaac NewtonIsaac Newton was born so small, he said, that he could have fit inside a quart mug.
- Michael DraytonMichael Drayton's first book, published in 1590, was almost entirely destroyed by public order.
- University WitsThe name "University Wits" was never used by the writers it describes. Journalist George Saintsbury coined it.
- Francis BaconFrancis Bacon may have died after stuffing a hen with snow. He wanted to test if cold could preserve meat like salt.
- John Fletcher (playwright)John Fletcher was once as famous on the English stage as Shakespeare. He wrote or co-wrote close to fifty plays.
- William CamdenIn 2023, imaging revealed passages William Camden had covered up in his history of Elizabeth.
- John DrydenHired thugs beat poet John Dryden in a London alley in December 1679.
- Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of OxfordEdward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, was buried in an unmarked grave in 1604. Some still say he wrote Shakespeare's plays.
- Henry WottonHenry Wotton's joke that an ambassador lies abroad nearly wrecked his career.
- Nicholas Rowe (writer)Nicholas Rowe made the first eighteenth-century edition of Shakespeare.
- John HemingesShakespeare's fellow actor John Heminges was formally a grocer. He also managed the theater and edited the First Folio.
- Thomas RymerThomas Rymer wrote in 1681 that you should not expect truth from an historiographer royal.