author
Edmund Waller
1606–1687
A polished voice of 17th-century English verse, he helped shape the smooth, balanced style that later flourished in the heroic couplet. He was also a longtime Member of Parliament, and his life moved through some of the most turbulent decades in English history.
1 Audiobook
Poetical Works of Edmund Waller and Sir John Denham
by Edmund Waller, Sir John Denham
About the author
Born on March 3, 1606, at Coleshill, Edmund Waller was an English poet and politician who sat in Parliament for many years. He was educated at Eton and at King's College, Cambridge, and became known early for both his wealth and his public speaking.
Waller is remembered chiefly for the graceful finish of his poetry. Critics and literary histories often point to his smooth, regular verse as an important step toward the style later associated with John Dryden and Alexander Pope. Among his best-known poems is "Go, Lovely Rose," and his work helped make wit, clarity, and polish central qualities in English lyric and occasional poetry.
His career was not quiet. During the Civil War era he was caught up in a conspiracy now known as Waller's Plot, after which he was fined and went into exile for a time. He later returned to public life, continued writing, and remained a notable literary and political figure until his death on October 21, 1687, at Beaconsfield.