author
Joseph Trapp
1679–1747
An early English man of letters, he moved easily between poetry, scholarship, church life, and political debate. Best known as Oxford’s first Professor of Poetry, he also wrote plays, sermons, translations, and sharp-edged pamphlets.
2 Audiobooks
The Preface to the Aeneis of Virgil (1718)
by Joseph Trapp
About the author
Born in Cherrington, Gloucestershire, in 1679, Joseph Trapp became an English clergyman, academic, poet, and pamphleteer. He studied at Wadham College, Oxford, and his early writing in verse and drama helped earn him a notable place in literary life.
In 1708, he was appointed the first Professor of Poetry at Oxford, a landmark role that reflects how highly his literary learning was valued at the time. His career ranged widely: alongside poetry and plays, he produced translations, lectures on poetry, sermons, and religious commentary.
Trapp was also a strong public controversialist, known for writing pamphlets and sermons shaped by his High Church views. He died in 1747, leaving behind a body of work that captures the lively mix of literature, religion, and politics in early eighteenth-century England.