Stephen Hawes
Stephen Hawes was an English poet and courtier, likely born around 1474, possibly in Aldeburgh, Suffolk. His early life is somewhat ambiguous, with indications that he may have attended Magdalen College, Oxford, though no records confirm his graduation. By 1502, he was part of the court of Henry VII, serving as a "groom of the chamber." Hawes is best known for his allegorical poetry, including "The Exemple of Vertu," an extensive poem composed in 1503-1504, which explores themes of virtue through dream visions.
His most notable work, "Passetyme of Pleasure," written in 1506, is a lengthy allegory detailing the education and adventures of its hero, Graunde Amoure. This poem not only reflects on the pursuit of knowledge and chivalry but also depicts the complexities of life beyond triumphs, including marriage and mortality. Despite the initial success of his works and a brief period of patronage under Henry VII, Hawes seems to have received less recognition during Henry VIII's reign. His later works include "The Comforte of Lovers," characterized by a more somber tone. Hawes's last known references date to 1521, after which he seemingly faded from historical records, with speculation about his death occurring within that decade.
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Stephen Hawes
Poet
- Born: c. 1474
- Birthplace: Possibly Aldeburgh, Suffolk, England
- Died: c. 1523
Biography
Stephen Hawes was probably born in 1474 or thereabouts, perhaps in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, England, although the evidence for that is unreliable. Some evidence suggests that he attended Magdalen College, Oxford in 1493, but no record remains of his graduation. By 1502, however, he was definitely at the court of Henry VII; he is menioned as a “groom of the chamber” who was allowed four yards of black cloth for the queen’s funeral.
Between 1503 and 1504, Hawes composed a 2,129-line poem in Chaucerian seven-line stanzas. He presented The Exemple of Vertu to the king well in advance of its publication. It takes the form of an allegorical dream vision whose protagonist is guided by Discretion through a series of “dysputacyons” with female archetypes named Hardynes (Hardiness), Sapience, Fortune, and Nature.
In January, 1506, Hawes received ten shillings for a “ballett” from the king, so he was presumably accomplished in music as well as poetry; it was apparently in the same year that he wrote his most famous work, Passetyme of Pleasure; or, the Historie of Graunde Amoure and La Belle Pucel, Containing the Knowledge of the Seven Sciences and the Course of Man’s Life in this Worlde. This too was printed—along with the moralistic The Convercyon of Swerers—by Wynkyn de Worde in 1509, the year in which Henry VIII succeeded his father to the throne.
The Passetyme is another allegorical poem, of 5,816 lines, written in rhymed decasyllabic couplets. It describes the education of its hero, Graunde Amoure, in the various accomplishments necessary to make him worthy of the love of La Belle Pucel (whose initial location is Tower of Musik). The hero leaves the Tower of Science for that of Chivalry, vanquishes a seven-headed giant symbolic of the cardinal vices, and fights a monster forged by magic from the seven metals, which might qualify as the earliest robot featured in English literature. It does not end with his triumph but proceeds relentlessly to describe his life after marriage, old age, and death. This comprehensiveness was considered inappropriate by many critics, who also complained of the poem’s painstakingly didactic treatment of grammar and other “sciences,” but it is undoubtedly a masterpiece of sorts.
Despite his production of A Joyfull Medytacyon to All Englande: A Coronation Poem to celebrate the coronation of Henry VIII, Hawes does not seem to have enjoyed the same encouragement in the latter’s court as he had in Henry VII’s, although a payment to him is recorded in January 1521 for “his play.” His only published poem after the 1509 collection was the 938-line The Comforte of Lovers, a cryptic but thoroughly downbeat dream vision in which Amoure laments the loss of his true love Pucell. The work—whose first edition is lost, although its second survives—is presumably autbiographical, but the speculation that its heroine might have been the future Queen Mary seems decidedly wild. Hawes disappeared from the historical record after 1521, although references to him by later writers imply that he died in that decade.