Owen Felltham
Owen Felltham was an English poet and essayist, born around 1602, likely in Mutford, Suffolk. Despite being self-educated and not attending university, he made a significant impact with his writing, particularly through his influential series of essays titled *Resolves Divine, Morall, and Politicall*, which he began at the young age of eighteen. The first edition of these essays was published in 1623, followed by a second edition in 1628, showcasing striking imagery that would later influence the more renowned poet Henry Vaughan. Felltham also contributed to the elegy collection honoring Ben Jonson, revealing the impact of Jonson's work on his own. Throughout his life, Felltham held various positions, including steward to the Earls of Thomond, which allowed him to travel and document his experiences, notably in *A Brief Character of the Low Countries Under the States*. His later works included *Lusoria*, a collection of poems and essays, with his most famous poem being "When, Dearest, I but Think on Thee." He passed away on February 23, 1668, in London, leaving behind a legacy of evocative imagery and thoughtful essays.
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Owen Felltham
- Born: c. 1602
- Birthplace: Possibly at Mutford, Suffolk, England
- Died: February 23, 1668
- Place of death: London, England
Biography
Owen Felltham was an English poet and essayist, known for the influence of his striking images on the much more famous poet, Henry Vaughan. Felltham was born around 1602, possibly at Mutford, Suffolk, England. Little is known of his early life, except that he was a second son and that his parents, Thomas and Mary Ufflete Felltham, had property in Suffolk. He appears to have been self-educated; although one of his poems was later published in 1656 in a collection compiled by alumni of Oxford and Cambridge, there is no record of his having attended either university. As a young man, Felltham traveled to London to become a merchant and married Mary Clopton of Kentwell Hall, Melford, Suffolk, on October 10, 1621.
Felltham’s most famous work, a series of one hundred essays entitled Resolves Divine, Morall, and Politicall, was written when Felltham was only eighteen, around the year 1620. The first edition was published in 1623. A follow-up edition, Resolves, a Second Centurie, containing another one hundred essays, was published in 1628. In general, the imagery of these essays is held to be more original and valuable than the ideas they contain. Felltham also contributed to a collection of elegies honoring dramatist and poet Ben Jonson, entitled Jonsonus Virbius (1637-1638); his poem, “To the Memory of the Immortall Ben,” highlights Jonson’s influence upon Felltham’s writing.
Felltham visited the Low Countries sometime before 1627. When he returned to England, he left his merchant business to become the steward of the sixth and seventh Earls of Thomond (Barnabas O’Brien and Henry O’Brien, respectively). Later, he wrote of his travels in A Brief Character of the Low Countries Under the States, published in two pirated forms in 1648 and 1652, before Felltham finally issued his authorized edition in 1652. For most of his life, however, Felltham stayed either at Thomond’s London house or at the estate at Great Billing, Northamptonshire, also owned by Thomond. Eventually he became steward to the Dowager Countess Mary and moved to her London townhouse. Apparently Felltham’s wife and any children they may have had preceded him in death, for they were not mentioned in his will.
Lusoria, or Occasional Pieces, a collection of forty-one poems, some letters, and a few more essays, was appended by Felltham to Resolves when that work was reissued in 1661. His most famous poem remains the often anthologized “When, Dearest, I but Think on Thee.” He died on February 23, 1668, at the Countess’s house in London.