author
active 1611 William Barksted
A shadowy figure from England’s early modern stage, this actor-poet is remembered for a pair of mythological narrative poems and a brief, intriguing trail through Jacobean theater records.
1 Audiobook
Seven Minor Epics of the English Renaissance (1596-1624)
by active 1611 William Barksted, Dunstan Gale, Richard Linche, Samuel Page
About the author
William Barksted, active in the early 17th century, was an English actor and poet. Surviving records connect him with the theatrical world around 1611, and he is generally described as a writer and performer from the Jacobean period.
He is known for the poems Mirrha, the Mother of Adonis (1607) and Hiren, or the Fair Greek (1611). He has also been linked with stage performances of Ben Jonson’s Epicene and Beaumont and Fletcher’s The Coxcomb, and his name appears in documents associated with the theater managers Philip Henslowe and Edward Alleyn.
Very little else about his life can be confirmed, which gives him a slightly mysterious place in literary history. What remains is a small but vivid record: a working actor, a published poet, and one of the many lesser-known figures who helped make the theatrical culture of Shakespeare’s era so lively.