Metaphysical poets, selected poems Timeline

Year Historical Literary Author
1590 Spenser's Faerie Queene (I-III) published
Sidney's Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia
1591 Increasing persecution of Catholics Kyd writes The Spanish Tragedy, thought to have a strong influence on Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Sidney's Astrophil and Stella 		Donne goes to Thavies Inn as law student
1592

Donne goes to Lincoln's Inn to study law.  

 Henry King born
1593 Theatres closed because of plague 3 April: George Herbert born at Montgomery
1594

Acting group The Lord Chamberlain's Men re-established, of which Shakespeare is a leading member. They use the Theatre as their playhouse.

Sir Philip Sidney's Apology for Poetry published
Hooker's Of the Laws of the Ecclesiastical Polity I-IV
Nashe's The Unfortunate Traveller
1595 Sidney's An Apology for Poetry (or The Defence of Poesy)
Spenser's Amoretti
1596 Essex attacks Cadiz Spenser's Faerie Queene (IV-VI) published
Second Blackfriars Theatre opened by Burbage

Donne on Cadiz expedition.  

 Herbert's father dies
1597 New Poor Law Bacon's Essays published

The lease on The Theatre expires. James and Richard Burbage dismantle the building and move the materials to another site in order to rebuild it.
1598 Death of Philip II Donne appointed Secretary to Egerton
1599 Earl of Essex, former favourite of Queen Elizabeth, arrested for failure to carry out her policies in Ireland
Oliver Cromwell born 		The Globe Theatre built on south bank of the Thames
Edmund Spenser dies
1600 East India Company founded Shakespeare's first tragedies performed
1601 Following an attempted uprising, Earl of Essex beheaded for treason 'War of the Theatres' - Jonson, Thomas Dekker, John Marston Donne secretly gets married to Anne More and is dismissed from Egerton's service. He becomes M.P.
1603 Elizabeth dies; succeeded by James VI of Scotland, who becomes James I of England

Plague in London and theatres are closed again

 Lord Chamberlain's Men become The King's Men, and frequently perform at court
1604 Hampton Court conference
1605 Gunpowder plot. Arrest and execution of Guy Fawkes Cervantes' Don Quixote pt 1

 Shakespeare's King Lear

 Herbert goes to Westminster School
1606

Cyril Tourneur The Revenger's Tragedy
1607 Appearance of Halley's comet
Founding of Jamestown, Virginia 		Tourneur's The Revenger's Tragedy published
Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher's The Knight of the Burning Pestle 		Donne's Divine Poems
1608 Herbert's mother marries Sir John Danvers
1609 Herbert matriculates at Trinity College, Cambridge
1610 Galileo reports on his findings with the telescope
Galileo The Starry Messenger 		Beaumont's and Fletcher's The Maid's Tragedy
1611 Authorised (or King James') Version of the Bible
Chapman, translation of Homer's lliad 		Donne's First Anniversarie printed
1612 Death of Henry, Prince of Wales.
Prince Charles becomes heir to the throne 		Donne's Of the Progress of the Soul
1613 Globe theatre fire

The Globe Theatre burns down after catching fire during a performance of Henry VIII. The fire was started by a spark from a cannon which was used for sound effects.

 Richard Crashaw born
1614 Globe theatre rebuilt after fire in previous year Chapman, translation of Homer's Odyssey (-1615) Donne elected M. P. for Taunton
1615 Cervantes's Don Quixote pt 2 Donne becomes Church of England priest. Receives D.D. from Cambridge University
1616 Lectures on the circulation of the blood by William Harvey in London Jonson's Works
Death of Cervantes 		Herbert made fellow of Trinity College
1617 Anne Donne dies
1618 Sir Walter Raleigh executed
Beginning of the Thirty Years' War (to 1648)

Abraham Cowley is born.  

Herbert made Reader in Rhetoric at Cambridge.  
1620 Pilgrim Fathers to Massachussetts in the Mayflower Herbert Public Orator at Cambridge
1621 Bacon dismissed from office
Performances of Philip Massinger's A New Way to Pay Old Debts
Thomas Middleton's Women Beware Women

Donne Dean of St.Paul's Cathedral, London.  

Andrew Marvell born in East Yorkshire.  

Henry Vaughan born in Breconshire, Wales.  
1622 Performance of Middleton's The Changeling
1624

Donne's Devotions upon Emergent Occasions.  

 Herbert M.P. for Montgomery
1625 James I dies. Charles I becomes king. Charles marries Henrietta Maria of France
1626 War with France Bacon dies
1627 Herbert 's mother dies. Donne preaches at the funeral
1628 John Bunyan born
Laud appointed Bishop of London
Buckingham assassinated
1629 Charles I suspends Parliament and has Sir John Eliot among other leaders imprisoned Herbert marries Jane Danvers. Herbert's older brother Edward made Lord Herbert of Cherbury
1630 Future Charles II is born Herbert made Rector of Bemerton, Wiltshire
1631 Bishop Laud enforces uniformity to the Church of England John Dryden born

Crashaw at Pembroke College, Cambridge.  

 March 31: Donne dies
1632 Katherine Philips is born
1633 Laud becomes Archbishop of Canterbury Ford's 'Tis Pity She's a Whore

Posthumous publication of Donne's Poems.  

Herbert dies. Herbert's The Temple published.  

 Marvell matriculates at Trinity College, Cambridge
1634 Charles insists upon payment of Ship Money without agreement of Parliament Crashaw graduates from Cambridge
1636 Crashaw at Peterhouse, Cambridge
1637 Action to impose new Prayer Book on Scottish Church led by Charles Marvell has Greek and Latin poems to Charles I published
1638 Crashaw friends with Abraham Cowley

Marvell wins scholarship at Trinity.  

 Vaughan probably at Jesus College, Oxford
1640 Charles I recalls Parliament, who impeach Laud and Strafford. Strafford executed

Donne's Sermons published.  

Marvell leaves Cambridge on father's death.  

Vaughan leaves Oxford for London to study law.  
1641 Grand Remonstrance in Parliament
Breakdown of censorship
1642 Civil War begins between Royalists and Parliamentary forces (August).
Charles leaves London and Parliament reorganises London militia.
Henrietta Maria sails to France for financial and military assistance.
Charles at Nottingham calls for volunteers to the royalist cause.
Attempt to arrest MPs.
Battle of Edgehill

Cowley leaves Cambridge for Oxford.  

Marvell in Europe.  

 Vaughan returns to Wales
1644 Battle of Marston Moor means that North of England is secured for Parliament Crashaw loses fellowship at Cambridge; escapes to France
1645 Battle of Naseby; defeat of Royalists
Prayer Book abolished and Laud executed 		Crashaw becomes a Roman Catholic
1646 Charles surrenders to the Scots
Shirley's Poems

Crashaw's Steps to the Temple and Delights of the Muses published.  

 Vaughan marries Catherine Wise
Vaughan's Poems
1647 Charles delivered over to Parliament. Putney Debates.
Charles escapes to the Isle of Wight 		Folio of Beaumont and Fletcher's Comedies and Tragedies

Cowley's The Mistress.  

 Crashaw in Rome
1648 Herrick's Hesperides Lovelace in prison
1649 Charles I executed. Abolition of monarchy and England declared a commonwealth

Crashaw to Loretto, where he dies.  

 Lovelace's Lucasta
Lovelace's Lucasta: Epodes
1650 Cromwell replaces Fairfax as Lord General

Marvell's Horatian Ode to Cromwell; at Nun Appleton House as tutor to Mary Fairfax.  

 Vaughan's Silex Scintillans published
1651 Charles II crowned at Scone. His forces are defeated at the Battle of Worcester and he flees to France Marvell's Upon Appleton House
Hobbes' Leviathan

Cleveland's Poems.  

 Vaughan's Olor Iscanus published
1652

Crashaw's Carmen Deo Nostro: Sacred Poems published.  

 Vaughan's The Mount of Olives published
1653 Cromwell named as Lord Protector Walton's Compleat Angler
Cavendish's Poems and Fancies 		Marvell tutor to Cromwell's ward
1655 War with Spain (until 1659)

Marvell's First Anniversary.  

 Vaughan re-marries on death of first wife
1656 Bunyan's Some Gospel-Truths Opened
Cowley's Poems
1657 Cromwell refuses to be crowned king Marvell becomes Latin Secretary to Government
1658 Cromwell, the Lord Protector, dies. Richard Cromwell new Protector

Lovelace dies.  

 Marvell's Upon the Death of The Lord Protector
1659 Richard Cromwell resigns. Army leaders recall the Rump Parliament Dryden's On Death of The Lord Protector
Bunyan's The Doctrine of the Law and Grace Unfolded 		Marvell M.P. for Hull
1660 Restoration: Charles II returns to England
Royal Society founded 		Dryden's Astraea Redux
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