| English poet, born near Taunton,
Somersetshire, and educated at the University of Oxford. As master of
the queen's revels at the court of James I, he wrote many masques. A meticulous
writer who frequently revised and republished his works, Daniel achieved
a purity of language and style. He believed devoutly in the monarchy,
in the duty of a poet to moralize, and in the suitability of the English
language for rhymed verse. Among his works are Delia (1592), a book of
sonnets; the Defence of Rhyme (1602); a major prose history of England
(1612-17); and his famous masque, Hymen's Triumph (1615). |