author
Sir John Davies
1569–1626
Best known for blending sharp literary talent with a serious legal career, this Elizabethan writer moved easily between poetry, Parliament, and royal service. His work helped secure his place in English literature while his years in Ireland made him an influential figure in Jacobean public life.
2 Audiobooks
The Complete Poems of Sir John Davies. Volume 2 of 2.
by Sir John Davies
The Complete Poems of Sir John Davies. Volume 1 of 2.
by Sir John Davies
About the author
Born in Wiltshire and educated at Winchester College and Queen’s College, Oxford, he went on to study law at the Middle Temple. He became known as both a poet and a lawyer, an unusual combination that shaped much of his reputation.
His best-known writing includes Orchestra, a lively poem on dancing, and Nosce Teipsum, a reflective philosophical poem on the soul and self-knowledge. Modern reference sources also describe him as a politician who sat in the House of Commons and as a senior legal official under James I.
He later served as solicitor general and then attorney general for Ireland, where he played an important role in the English crown’s legal and political program. That mix of literature, law, and government service is what makes him stand out today.