Background
John Denham was born in 1614 or 1615 in Dublin, Ireland. He was the only son of Sir John Denham, lord chief baron of the Exchequer in Ireland.
( Sir John Denham FRS was born in 1614 or 1615 (an exact ...)
Sir John Denham FRS was born in 1614 or 1615 (an exact date cannot be corroborated) in Dublin, Ireland, the son of his like named father, Sir John Denham, Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer, and his second wife Eleanor Moore, daughter of Garret Moore, 1st Viscount Moore. Denham and was educated at Trinity College, Oxford and at Lincoln's Inn in London. His literary career started with a tragedy, The Sophy, in 1641, followed a year later by his poem Coopers Hill, probably his most famous work and a very early example of poetry devoted to the local description of the Thames Valley scenery surrounding his home at Egham in Surrey. During his career Denham was to return again and again to the work and write several versions to reflect the cultural and political upheavals of the Civil War. A Royalist by nature this caused to hold him back during the Civil War but in 1642 he was appointed High Sheriff of Surrey and governor of Farnham Castle. Whatever his politics it is as a poet that Denham, along with his fellow poet and contemporary Edmund Waller, exerted an influence on versification and poetical utterance and the great John Dryden thought their work to be the beginning of Augustan poetry. In 1661 Denham was elected to Parliament for the seat of Old Sarum and became a Fellow of the Royal Society on May 20th, 1663, as well as a Knight of the Bath. With the Restoration of Charles II Denham became Surveyor of the King's Works. He seemed to have no experience for this particular role and it is more likely it was awarded for past political services. John Webb, who, as Inigo Jones's deputy complained that "though Mr. Denham may, as most gentry, have some knowledge of the theory of architecture, he can have none of the practice and must employ another." Although he could administrate nothing suggests any actual design work though his influence would undoubtedly have been taken into account. Denham had an unhappy marriage, and his last years were clouded by advancing dementia. With Denham's increasing mental incapacity, Charles II requested in March 1669 that Christopher Wren be appointed Denham's "sole deputy"; Wren succeeded him as King's Surveyor upon his death two weeks later. Sir John Denham died on March 19th, 1669 and is buried in Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey.
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John Denham was born in 1614 or 1615 in Dublin, Ireland. He was the only son of Sir John Denham, lord chief baron of the Exchequer in Ireland.
Denham received his education in grammar learning in London and in Michaelmas term 1631 he entered as a gentleman commoner at Trinity College, Oxford. He had remained at the university for three years and having been examined at the public schools for the degree of bachelor of arts he entered himself in Lincoln’s-Inn, where he was generally thought to apply himself pretty close to the study of the common law.
Denham began his literary career with a tragedy in five acts "The Sophy", which was published in 1642, the subject of which was drawn from Sir Thomas Herbert's travels. The first edition was anonymous: subsequent editions show numerous alterations, and the poem did not assume its final form until 1655. This famous piece, which was Pope's model for his Windsor Forest, was not new in theme or manner, but the praise which it received was well merited by its ease and grace.
Moreover, Denham expressed his commonplaces with great dignity and skill. He followed the taste of the time in his frequent use of antithesis and metaphor, but these devices seem to arise out of the matter and are not of the nature of mere external ornament. At Oxford, he wrote many squibs against the Roundheads. One of the few serious pieces belonging to this period is the short poem "On the Earl of Strafford's Trial and Death".
From this time Denham was much in Charles I's confidence.
He was entrusted with the charge of forwarding letters to and from the king when he was in the custody of the parliament, a duty which he discharged successfully with Abraham Cowley, but in 1648 he was suspected by the Parliamentary authorities and thought it wiser to cross the Channel.
He helped in the removal of the young Duke of York to Holland, and for some time he served Queen Henrietta Maria in Paris, being entrusted by her with despatches for Holland.
In 1650 he was sent to Poland in company with Lord Crofts to obtain money for Charles II.
They succeeded in raising £10, 000.
After two years spent at the exiled court in Holland, Denham returned to London and being quite without resources, he was for some time the guest of the Earl of Pembroke at Wilton.
In 1656 an order was given that Denham should restrict himself to some place of residence to be selected by himself at a distance of not less than 20 m. from London; subsequently, he obtained from the Protector a license to live at Bury St Edmunds, and in 1658 a passport to travel abroad with the earl of Pembroke.
He eventually secured the services of Christopher Wren as deputy- surveyor.
John was known for his poem "Cooper's Hill"(1642). It is the first example in English of a poem devoted to the local description, picturing the Thames Valley scenery around his home at Egham in Surrey. Denham wrote many versions of this poem, reflecting the political and cultural upheavals of the Civil War.
John also received extravagant praise from Samuel Johnson, who quoted Denham's verse to exemplify the use of several words, but the place now assigned him is more humble.
( Sir John Denham FRS was born in 1614 or 1615 (an exact ...)
John married firstly in 1634 to Ann Cotton, by whom he had three children, a son who died young and two daughters who reached adulthood. He married secondly in 1665 Margaret Brooke, daughter of Sir William Brooke and his second wife Penelope Hill. His unhappy second marriage was the cause of much gossip, and Margaret's sudden death in 1667 gave rise to unfounded rumors that he had poisoned her.
