Sir William D'Avenant

Dawn Lewcock (Independent Scholar - Europe)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.04: English Writing and Culture of the Seventeenth Century, 1625-1688.
Vol. editors: Jennifer Brady (Rhodes College), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Neil Forsyth (Université de Lausanne), Claire Preston (Queen Mary, University of London), J A Roe (University of York), Virginia Mason Vaughan (Clark University)

Dates

Born Feb 1606
Died 7 Apr 1668
Activity 1629-1668

Places

Born in England
Active in England

Activities

Primary

Playwright / Dramatist
Poet
Theatre Director
Theatre Manager

Other

Courtier
Soldier
Song-writer

Resources

D'Avenant's Works

Save to Bookshelf

Sir William D'Avenant or Davenant wrote plays and poetry and what would be called today

libretti

for court masques in association with Inigo Jones. But while his writing is not negligible for its type, and is an interesting example of certain Carolean taste and styles, his importance to posterity lies in the history of theatre rather than literature. Davenant learnt his trade as a young man by writing plays performed on the bare platform stage. His writing was popular with Queen Henrietta-Maria and he became a courtier. After the dismissal of Ben Jonson he worked on the last court masques with Inigo Jones, and eventually became poet laureate. He was a trusted armaments controller and gunrunner during the Civil War. During the Interregnum he presented several musical entertainments which…

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

3426 words

Citation: Lewcock, Dawn. "Sir William D'Avenant". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 September 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1108, accessed 25 November 2024.]