John Beaumont
John Beaumont was an English poet born in 1583, the second son of Sir Francis Beaumont, a judge. He attended Oxford University and later joined the Inner Temple, marking his early engagement with literary and legal pursuits. Following the deaths of his father and elder brother, he became the head of his family and took charge of their estates. Beaumont published his first poem, "Metamorphosis of Tabacco," at the age of nineteen and developed connections with notable literary figures of his time, including Shakespeare and Ben Jonson.
Despite living as a bachelor for many years, he eventually married into the Fortescue family, which resulted in four sons, one of whom posthumously edited his poems after Beaumont's death in 1627. His notable works include "The Crown of Thorns," a lengthy poem that has been lost, and "The Theatre of Apollo," a masque that remains. Beaumont's contributions to poetry are significant, as he is acknowledged as a pioneer of the heroic couplet in English literature. His writing is characterized by clarity and precision, positioning him alongside contemporaries like Edmund Waller and George Sandys in the reform of English verse.
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John Beaumont
- Born: 1583
- Birthplace: Grace-Dieu, Leicestershire, England
- Died: April 19, 1627
- Place of death: England
Biography
John Beaumont was born the second son of Sir Francis Beaumont, Judge of the Common Pleas, at the family seat, Grace Dieu, in Leicestershire in 1583. John Beaumont went to Oxford University in February, 1597, and entered Broadgates Hall later known as Pembroke College as a gentleman commoner. He was admitted to the Inner Temple in 1600. (While some attribute this identical educational background to his younger brother, Francis Beaumont, the case seems well-made that John, the elder brother, would have been the one to attend Oxford.)
The death of his father in 1598 and that of his elder brother, Sir Henry Beaumont, in 1605 made the poet the head of this family at an early age. Upon the death of his brother Henry, Beaumont returned home to manage the family estates. In 1602, at the age of nineteen, he anonymously published his poem “Metamorphosis of Tabacco.” In this poem he addresses poet Michael Drayton as his loving friend.
Beaumont’s younger brother Francis was well-known as a poet and dramatist. While his closest collaborator is known to be John Fletcher, Shakespeare is thought to have been among his colleagues. Francis Beaumont was also acquainted with Ben Johnson, Michael Drayton, and other members of the literary elite of the period.
Sir John Beaumont lived for many years in Leicestershire as a bachelor. His “tardy” marriage to a lady of the Fortescue family added four males to the Beaumont family. His eldest son, John, edited his father’s poems posthumously and wrote his own elegy of his father. The young man was killed in 1644 at the siege of Gloucester. Another of Sir John Beaumont’s sons, Gervaise, died in childhood; the incidents of this son’s death are movingly recorded in one of his father’s most poignant poems.
Sir John Beaumont is said to have concentrated his powers on a poem in eight books called The Crown of Thorns. The manuscript of this poem was greatly admired by the Earl of Southampton and others but has been lost. However, the masque that he wrote for James I, The Theatre of Apollo, has survived. After a long retirement, Beaumont was persuaded by the duke of Buckingham to “move in larger circles.” He attended court, and in 1626 King Charles I made him a baronet. He did not long survive the honor, however. He died on April 19, 1627, and was buried in Westminster Abbey ten days later.
In the volume of his poems titled Bosworth Field: With a Taste of the Variety of Other Poems Left by Sir John Beaumont, published in 1629 by his eldest son, the next Sir John Beaumont, it is said that the heroic couplet made its first appearance in English poetry. Beaumont’s literary order and precision, together with his clear and natural language, mark him, with Edmund Waller and George Sandys, as one of the pioneers of the classic reformation of English verse.