William Webbe
William Webbe (fl. 1568–1591) [1] was an English critic and translator. Little is known about him except that he attended Trinity College, Cambridge,[2] and was a tutor for distinguished families.
He wrote a Discourse of English Poetrie (1586), in which he discusses prosody and reviews English poetry up to his own day. He also translated Virgil's first two Eclogues. A letter by Webbe to Robert Wilmot (fl. 1568-1608) is prepended to the 1591 edition of Wilmot's play Tragedie of Tancred and Gismund.[3] The letter, praising Wilmot for having decided to publish the tragedy, acts as a prefacing endorsement of the play.
[edit] Notes
- ^ "Webbe, William" A Dictionary of Writers and their Works. Ed. Michael Cox. Oxford University Press, 2001.
- ^ Venn, J.; Venn, J. A., eds. (1922–1958). "Webbe, William". Alumni Cantabrigienses (10 vols) (online ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- ^ Wilmot, Robert. The Tragedie of Tancred and Gismund. London, 1591.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Cousin, John William (1910). A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London, J. M. Dent & Sons; New York, E. P. Dutton.
