Stephen Duck was born 

.1705 in Charlton St. Peter, Wiltshire, the son of labouring parents. Duck went to a charity school until he was fourteen, when his mother withdrew him, according to the anonymous “Some Account of the Author’s Life” in the seventh edition of the pirated

published in 1730, “lest he might become too fine a Gentleman for the Family that produced him” (“Some Account”, 1730: iv). He married at nineteen and fathered three children, continuing his education by studying late at night and in work breaks. He was writing his own poetry by 1729, when he came to the attention of local gentry and clergy. His earliest extant poem, originally published untitled in 1730 but later (in 1736) as “To a Gentleman, who requested a Copy of Verses…

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Citation: Van-Hagen, Stephen. "Stephen Duck". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 03 March 2007; last revised 08 March 2022. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1331, accessed 22 November 2024.]

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