Thomas Jordan (poet)
Thomas Jordan (c. 1612–1685) was an English poet, playwright and actor, born possibly in London or Eynsham in Oxfordshire about 1612 or 1614.[1]
Early career
Jordan was a
Commonwealth period
In the period of the official closing of the theatres during the Commonwealth, 1642–60, Jordan was apparently involved in some of the clandestine theatrical activities at the Red Bull Theatre. In a raid on the playhouse in September 1655, several actors were arrested, including one Thomas Jay, alias Thomas Jordan.[1] Jordan probably also supported himself and his family for some time by writing dedications, commendatory verses, and panegyrics. According to Thomas Seccombe's Dictionary of National Biography article, these were remarkable for their brazen plagiarisms: "His plan seems to have been to print a book with the dedication in blank, and to fill in the name afterwards by means of a small press worked by himself".[2] For example, Wit in a Wildernesse was dedicated to at least five different individuals.[1] Jordan frequently reissued both his own and other people's already-published works with new title-pages.
Jordan was a prolific writer of verse, satire, collections of poetry and sundries. Being a fervent supporter of the
When the theatres were reopened at the Restoration in 1660, Jordan again focused his energies on the drama, writing two plays and a masque[3] as well as numerous drolls, afterpieces, prologues and epilogues, and also doing some acting. He played the part of Captain Penniless in his own play Money is an Ass (1668).[2]
City poet
Jordan started writing civic verse in the late 1650s, including an
Reputation
Several of his contemporaries wrote scornfully of Jordan. The biographer William Winstanley ranks him with John Tatham as "indulging his Muse more to vulgar fancies than the high-flying wits of those times"[3] and Samuel Wesley in his Maggots (1685) calls Jordan's muse the inspirer of dullness.[2] Later readers have been more appreciative. William Hazlitt credited Jordan with a greater share of poetical merit than most of his profession.[2]
Jordan's carpe diem-themed poem "Coronemus nos Rosis antequam marcescant", alternatively "Let us drink and be merry", was widely anthologised in the early 20th century,[6] and the text of the poem is available on several internet sites.[7]
References
- ^ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online edn, Jan 2008. Date retrieved: 5 May 2013.
- ^ a b c d e Thomas Seccombe, "Jordan, Thomas" in Dictionary of National Biography. . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. Date retrieved: 5 May 2013.
- ^ a b William Winstanley, The Lives of the Most Famous English Poets (1687), p. 191. (Winstanley spells the name "Thomas Jorden".) Date retrieved: 2 April 2013.
- ^ Knight's London, vol 6, p. 155. Date retrieved: 2 April 2013.
- ^ S. J. Owen, Restoration theatre and Crisis (1996), p. 299, quoted by Hulse, date retrieved 20 April 2013.
- The Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250–1900, ed. Arthur Quiller-Couch(1919).
- ^ For instance at about.com and bartleby.com. Dates retrieved: 2 April 2013.
External links
- Works by Thomas Jordan at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)