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, 29^th 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.

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