Matthew Prior

Conrad Brunstrom (Maynooth University)

Ed. by Nicholas Seager, University of Keele
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.05: English Writing and Culture from the Glorious Revolution to the French Revolution, 1689-1789.
Vol. editors: Paul Baines (University of Liverpool), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Dates

Born 21 Jul 1664
Died 18 Sep 1721
Activity 1696-1721

Places

Born in England
Active in England

Activities

Primary

Poet

Other

Satirist

Resources

Matthew Prior (1664-1721) was one of the most popular and influential poets of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth-centuries, as well as perhaps the most versatile. He was also a significant political player and one of the most esteemed diplomats of his age, regarded as a chief architect of the Treaty of Utrecht (1713) which concluded the War of Spanish Succession. Of humble background, the son of a joiner and grandson of an agricultural labourer, Prior represents a spectacular example of upward mobility, rising to become an intimate of Robert Harley and Henry St John Lord Bolingbroke, and highly regarded by William III and Louis XIV.

Born in London, Matthew Prior grew up physically close to political power in Westminster e…

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2241 words

Citation: Brunstrom, Conrad. "Matthew Prior". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 October 2016 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3646, accessed 24 November 2024.]

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