crossref-it.info - AS/A2 English Literature Study Guides - texts in context.Metaphysical Poetry » Timeline
| Year | Historical | Literary | Author(s) |
| 1590 | Spenser's Faerie Queene (I-III) published Sidney's Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia | ||
| 1591 | Increasing persecution of Catholics | Kyd writes The Spanish Tragedy, thought to have a strong influence on Shakespeare's Hamlet. Sidney's Astrophil and Stella | Donne, John Donne goes to Thavies Inn as law student |
| 1592 | Donne, John Donne goes to Lincoln's Inn to study law King, Henry Henry King born | ||
| 1593 | Theatres closed because of plague | Herbert, George 3 April: George Herbert born at Montgomery | |
| 1594 | Hooker's Of the Laws of the Ecclesiastical Polity I-IV Sir Philip Sidney's Apology for Poetry published Acting group The Lord Chamberlain's Men re-established. Nashe's The Unfortunate Traveller | ||
| 1595 | Spenser's Amoretti Sidney's An Apology for Poetry (or The Defence of Poesy) | ||
| 1596 | Essex attacks Cadiz | Second Blackfriars Theatre opened by Burbage Spenser's Faerie Queene (IV-VI) published | Donne, John Donne on Cadiz expedition Herbert, George Herbert's father dies |
| 1597 | New Poor Law | Bacon's Essays published | |
| 1598 | Death of Philip II | Donne, John Donne appointed Secretary to Egerton | |
| 1599 | Oliver Cromwell born Earl of Essex, former favourite of Queen Elizabeth, arrested for failure to carry out her policies in Ireland | Edmund Spenser dies The Globe Theatre built on south bank of the Thames | |
| 1600 | East India Company founded | Shakespeare's first tragedies performed | |
| 1601 | Following an attempted uprising, Earl of Essex beheaded for treason | 'War of the Theatres' - Jonson, Thomas Dekker, John Marston | Donne, John Donne secretly gets married to Anne More and is dismissed from Egerton's service. He becomes M.P. |
| 1603 | Plague in London Elizabeth dies; succeeded by James VI of Scotland, who becomes James I of England | Lord Chamberlain's Men become The King's Men, and frequently perform at court | |
| 1604 | Hampton Court conference | ||
| 1605 | Gunpowder plot. Arrest and execution of Guy Fawkes | Cervantes' Don Quixote pt 1 | Herbert, George Herbert goes to Westminster School |
| 1606 | Shakespearce's King Lear, Cyril Tourneur The Revenger's Tragedy | ||
| 1607 | Appearance of Halley's comet Founding of Jamestown, Virginia | Tourneur's The Revenger's Tragedy published Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher's The Knight of the Burning Pestle | Donne, John Donne's Divine Poems |
| 1608 | Herbert, George Herbert's mother marries Sir John Danvers | ||
| 1609 | Herbert, George Herbert matriculates at Trinity College, Cambridge | ||
| 1610 | Galileo The Starry Messenger Galileo reports on his findings with the telescope | Beaumont's and Fletcher's The Maid's Tragedy | |
| 1611 | Chapman, translation of Homer's lliad Authorised (or King James') Version of the Bible | Donne, John Donne's First Anniversarie printed | |
| 1612 | Death of Henry, Prince of Wales. Prince Charles becomes heir to the throne | Donne, John Donne's Of the Progress of the Soul | |
| 1613 | Globe theatre fire | Crashaw, Richard Richard Crashaw born | |
| 1614 | Globe theatre rebuilt after fire in previous year | Chapman, translation of Homer's Odyssey (-1615) | Donne, John Donne elected M. P. for Taunton |
| 1615 | Cervantes's Don Quixote pt 2 | Donne, John Donne becomes Church of England priest. Receives D.D. from Cambridge University | |
| 1616 | Lectures on the circulation of the blood by William Harvey in London | Death of Cervantes Jonson's Works | Herbert, George Herbert made fellow of Trinity College |
| 1617 | Donne, John Anne Donne dies | ||
| 1618 | Sir Walter Raleigh executed Beginning of the Thirty Years' War (to 1648) | Cowley, Abraham Abraham Cowley is born Herbert, George Herbert made Reader in Rhetoric at Cambridge | |
| 1620 | Pilgrim Fathers to Massachussetts in the Mayflower | Herbert, George Herbert Public Orator at Cambridge | |
| 1621 | Performances of Philip Massinger's A New Way to Pay Old Debts Bacon dismissed from office Thomas Middleton's Women Beware Women | Donne, John Donne Dean of St.Paul's Cathedral, London Marvell, Andrew Andrew Marvell born in East Yorkshire Vaughan, Henry Henry Vaughan born in Breconshire, Wales | |
| 1622 | Performance of Middleton's The Changeling | ||
| 1624 | Donne, John Donne's Devotions upon Emergent Occasions Herbert, George Herbert M.P. for Montgomery | ||
| 1625 | James I dies. Charles I becomes king. Charles marries Henrietta Maria of France | ||
| 1626 | War with France | Bacon dies | |
| 1627 | Herbert, George Herbert 's mother dies. Donne preaches at the funeral | ||
| 1628 | Buckingham assassinated Laud appointed Bishop of London John Bunyan born | ||
| 1629 | Charles I suspends Parliament and has Sir John Eliot among other leaders imprisoned | Herbert, George Herbert marries Jane Danvers. Herbert's older brother Edward made Lord Herbert of Cherbury | |
| 1630 | Future Charles II is born | Herbert, George Herbert made Rector of Bemerton, Wiltshire | |
| 1631 | Bishop Laud enforces uniformity to the Church of England | John Dryden born | Crashaw, Richard Crashaw at Pembroke College, Cambridge Donne, John March 31: Donne dies |
| 1632 | Philips, Katherine Katherine Philips is born | ||
| 1633 | Laud becomes Archbishop of Canterbury | Ford's 'Tis Pity She's a Whore | Donne, John Posthumous publication of Donne's Poems Herbert, George Herbert dies. Herbert's The Temple published Marvell, Andrew Marvell matriculates at Trinity College, Cambridge |
| 1634 | Charles insists upon payment of Ship Money without agreement of Parliament | Crashaw, Richard Crashaw graduates from Cambridge | |
| 1636 | Crashaw, Richard Crashaw at Peterhouse, Cambridge | ||
| 1637 | Action to impose new Prayer Book on Scottish Church led by Charles | Marvell, Andrew Marvell has Greek and Latin poems to Charles I published | |
| 1638 | Crashaw friends with Abraham Cowley | Marvell, Andrew Marvell wins scholarship at Trinity. Vaughan, Henry Vaughan probably at Jesus College, Oxford | |
| 1640 | Charles I recalls Parliament, who impeach Laud and Strafford. Strafford executed | Donne, John Donne's Sermons published Marvell, Andrew Marvell leaves Cambridge on father's death Vaughan, Henry Vaughan leaves Oxford for London to study law | |
| 1641 | Breakdown of censorship Grand Remonstrance in Parliament | ||
| 1642 | Charles leaves London and Parliament reorganises London militia. Battle of Edgehill Attempt to arrest MPs. Civil War begins between Royalists and Parliamentary forces (August). Charles at Nottingham calls for volunteers to the royalist cause. Henrietta Maria sails to France for financial and military assistance. | Cowley, Abraham Cowley leaves Cambridge for Oxford Marvell, Andrew Marvell in Europe Vaughan, Henry Vaughan returns to Wales | |
| 1644 | Battle of Marston Moor means that North of England is secured for Parliament | Crashaw, Richard Crashaw loses fellowship at Cambridge; escapes to France | |
| 1645 | Battle of Naseby; defeat of Royalists Prayer Book abolished and Laud executed | Crashaw, Richard Crashaw becomes a Roman Catholic | |
| 1646 | Charles surrenders to the Scots Shirley's Poems | Crashaw, Richard Crashaw's Steps to the Temple and Delights of the Muses published Vaughan, Henry Vaughan marries Catherine Wise Vaughan's Poems | |
| 1647 | Charles delivered over to Parliament. Putney Debates. Charles escapes to the Isle of Wight | Folio of Beaumont and Fletcher's Comedies and Tragedies | Cowley, Abraham Cowley's The Mistress Crashaw, Richard Crashaw in Rome |
| 1648 | Herrick's Hesperides | Lovelace, Richard Lovelace in prison | |
| 1649 | Charles I executed. Abolition of monarchy and England declared a commonwealth | Crashaw, Richard Crashaw to Loretto, where he dies Lovelace, Richard Lovelace's Lucasta Lovelace's Lucasta: Epodes | |
| 1650 | Cromwell replaces Fairfax as Lord General | Marvell, Andrew Marvell's Horatian Ode to Cromwell; at Nun Appleton House as tutor to Mary Fairfax Vaughan, Henry Vaughan's Silex Scintillans published | |
| 1651 | Charles II crowned at Scone. His forces are defeated at the Battle of Worcester and he flees to France | Marvell's Upon Appleton House Hobbes' Leviathan | Cleveland, John Cleveland's Poems Vaughan, Henry Vaughan's Olor Iscanus published |
| 1652 | Crashaw, Richard Crashaw's Carmen Deo Nostro: Sacred Poems published Vaughan, Henry Vaughan's The Mount of Olives published | ||
| 1653 | Cromwell named as Lord Protector | Cavendish's Poems and Fancies Walton's Compleat Angler | Marvell, Andrew Marvell tutor to Cromwell's ward |
| 1655 | War with Spain (until 1659) | Marvell, Andrew Marvell's First Anniversary Vaughan, Henry Vaughan re-marries on death of first wife | |
| 1656 | Cowley's Poems Bunyan's Some Gospel-Truths Opened | ||
| 1657 | Cromwell refuses to be crowned king | Marvell, Andrew Marvell becomes Latin Secretary to Government | |
| 1658 | Cromwell, the Lord Protector, dies. Richard Cromwell new Protector | Lovelace, Richard Lovelace dies Marvell, Andrew Marvell's Upon the Death of The Lord Protector | |
| 1659 | Richard Cromwell resigns. Army leaders recall the Rump Parliament | Dryden's On Death of The Lord Protector Bunyan's The Doctrine of the Law and Grace Unfolded | Marvell, Andrew Marvell M.P. for Hull |
| 1660 | Royal Society founded Restoration: Charles II returns to England | Dryden's Astraea Redux |
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