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Thomas Shadwell (c. 1642 – November 19 , 1692 ) was an English Playwright and miscellaneous Writer who was appointed Poet Laureate in 1689 . LIFE According to his son, Sir John Shadwell, Thomas Shadwell was born at Santon Hall, Norfolk , and educated at Bury St Edmunds School, and at Gonville And Caius College, Cambridge , which he was entered in 1656. He left the university without a degree, and joined the Middle Temple . At the Whig triumph in 1688 he superseded John Dryden as poet laureate and historiographer royal. He died at Chelsea on the 19th of November 1692. WORKS In 1668 he produced a prose comedy, ''The Sullen Lovers'', or the ''Impertinents'', based on ''Les Fâcheux'' by Molière , and written in open imitation of Ben Jonson 's comedy of humours. His best plays are ''Epsom Wells'' (1672), for which Sir Charles Sedley wrote a prologue, and the ''Squire of Alsatia'' (1688). Alsatia was the Cant name for the Whitefriars area of London, then a kind of sanctuary for persons liable to arrest, and the play represents, in dialogue full of the local Argot , the adventures of a young heir who falls into the hand of the sharpers there. For fourteen years from the production of his first comedy to his memorable encounter with John Dryden , Shadwell produced a play nearly every year. These productions display a hatred of sham, and a rough but honest moral purpose. Although bawdy, they present a vivid picture of contemporary manners. Shadwell is chiefly remembered as the unfortunate ''Mac Flecknoe'' of Dryden's satire, the "last great prophet of Tautology ," and the literary son and heir of Richard Flecknoe :
Dryden had furnished Shadwell with a prologue to his ''True Widow'' (1679), and in spite of momentary differences, the two had been on friendly terms. But when Dryden joined the court party, and produced '''s continuation of ''Absalom and Achitophel'' satirical portraits of Elkanah Settle as Doeg and of Shadwell as Og. In 1687, Shadwell attempted to answer these attacks in a version of the tenth satire of Juvenal . However, Dryden's portrait of Shadwell in ''Absalom and Achitophel'' cut far deeper, and has withstood the test of time. In this satire, Dryden noted of Settle and Shadwell:
Nonetheless, Shadwell, due to the Whig triumph in 1688 superseded his enemy as Poet Laureate and Historiographer royal. His son, Charles Shadwell was also a playwright. A scene from his play, "The Stockjobbers " was included as an introduction in Caryl Churchill 's "Serious Money" ( 1987 ). POEMS ''Dear Pretty Youth '' ''Love in their little veins inspires '' ''Nymphs and Shepherds '' WORKS A complete edition of Shadwell's works was published by another son, Sir John Shadwell , in 1720. His other dramatic works are:
NOTES REFERENCE
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