author
Samuel Daniel
1562–1619
A thoughtful voice from the Elizabethan and early Jacobean age, this writer moved easily between poetry, drama, and history. He is especially remembered for the sonnet sequence Delia, the verse dialogue Musophilus, and his long poem on the Wars of the Roses, The Civil Wars.
1 Audiobook
Elizabethan Sonnet-Cycles: Delia - Diana
by Henry Constable, Samuel Daniel
About the author
Born near Taunton in Somerset in 1562, Samuel Daniel became one of the notable English writers of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. He studied at Oxford before building a literary career that ranged across poetry, prose, drama, and historical writing.
Daniel is often admired for his calm, reflective style and his interest in history, politics, and the English language itself. His best-known works include the sonnet sequence Delia, The Complaint of Rosamond, Musophilus, and The Civil Wars Between the Houses of Lancaster and York. He also wrote plays and masques, and he was connected with important literary and court circles of his time.
Though he is less famous today than some of his contemporaries, Daniel was widely respected in his own age. Readers still return to him for his graceful verse, his serious cast of mind, and the way his writing captures the transition from the Elizabethan world into the Jacobean one.