Denham, Sir John

Denham, Sir John

▪ British poet
born 1615, Dublin, Ire.
died March 10, 1669, London, Eng.

      poet who established as a new English genre the leisurely meditative poem describing a particular landscape.

      Educated at the University of Oxford, Denham was admitted to the bar, but he was already actively writing. He had translated six books of the Aeneid, parts of which were later printed; but he made his reputation with The Sophy, a blank-verse historical tragedy acted in 1641, and with Hill, a poem published in 1642. During the English Civil Wars, he was engaged at home and abroad in the cause of Charles II. Made a knight of the Bath and elected to the Royal Society after the Restoration in 1660, he also served as a member of Parliament. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.

      Denham's poetry is essentially didactic. Its strength lies in its gravely reflective ethical solidity, and it achieves an expression of balance and unity that is developed out of a theory of the harmony of opposites. He helped develop the closed heroic couplet (a couplet rhyming aa and containing a complete idea, not dependent upon the preceding or following couplet). Denham greatly increased the popularity of that form with Cooper's Hill, a new type of descriptive landscape verse that was imitated by English poets for the next 100 years.

Additional Reading
Brendan O Hehir, Harmony from Discords: A Life of Sir John Denham (1968).

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • DENHAM, SIR JOHN —    an English poet, born at Dublin, the son of an Irish judge; took to gambling and squandered his patrimony; was unhappy in his marriage, and his mind gave way; is best known as the author of Cooper s Hill, a descriptive poem, interspersed with… …   The Nuttall Encyclopaedia

  • Denham, Sir John — (1615 1669)    Poet, s. of the Chief Baron of Exchequer in Ireland, was b. in Dublin, and ed. at Oxf. He began his literary career with a tragedy, The Sophy (1641), which seldom rises above mediocrity. His poem, Cooper s Hill (1642), is the work… …   Short biographical dictionary of English literature

  • Denham, Sir John — (1615 1669)    Born in Dublin, the son of an Irish judge, educated in London at Trinity College, Oxford, he studied law at Lincoln s Inn. He inherited the family mansion at Egham, Surrey, but squandered a small fortune on gambling. He was… …   British and Irish poets

  • Sir John Mills — John Mills Pour les articles homonymes, voir Mills. Sir John Mills était un acteur britannique, né Lewis Ernest Watts Mills à North Elmham (Norfolk) le 22 février 1908, décédé à Denham  …   Wikipédia en Français

  • John Denham (Dichter) — John Denham Sir John Denham (* 1615 in Dublin; † 10. März 1669 in London) war ein irischer Schriftsteller. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Denham, Buckinghamshire — Denham is also the name of a hamlet in the parish of Quainton, Buckinghamshire. Coordinates: 51°33′47″N 0°29′56″W / 51.563°N 0.499°W / …   Wikipedia

  • John Denham (poete) — John Denham (poète) Pour les articles homonymes, voir John Denham. Sir John Denham (1615 10 mars 1669), poète irlandais, né à Dublin en 1615, mort en 1668. Il étudia à Oxford où il se fit la réputation de joueur et de dissipé, puis réforma sa… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • John denham (poète) — Pour les articles homonymes, voir John Denham. Sir John Denham (1615 10 mars 1669), poète irlandais, né à Dublin en 1615, mort en 1668. Il étudia à Oxford où il se fit la réputation de joueur et de dissipé, puis réforma sa conduite et écrivit… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Mills, Sir John — ▪ 2006 Lewis Ernest Watts Mills        British actor (b. Feb. 22, 1908, Watts Naval Training College, North Elmham, Norfolk, Eng. d. April 23, 2005, Denham, Buckinghamshire, Eng.), appeared in more than 100 motion pictures and dozens of stage… …   Universalium

  • John Denham (poète) — Pour les articles homonymes, voir John Denham. John Denham Sir John Denham (1615 10 mars 1669), poète irlandais, né à Dublin en 1615, mort en 1668. Il étudia à …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”