Shadwell, Thomas

Shadwell, Thomas, 1642?–1692, English dramatist and poet. His plays, written in the tradition of Jonson's comedy of humours, are distinguished for their realistic pictures of London life and for their frank and witty dialogue. They include The Sullen Lovers (1668), Epsom Wells (1672), and The Squire of Alsatia (1688). His devotion to Jonson instigated his feud with Dryden, whom he succeeded as poet laureate in 1689. Shadwell attacked Dryden in The Medal of John Bayes (1682) and was himself lampooned in Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel and Mac Flecknoe.

Bibliography

See his works (ed. by M. Summers, 5 vol., 1927).

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Shadwell, Thomas

(born 1642?, Norfolk, Eng.—died Nov. 19, 1692, London) English dramatist. One of the court wits after the Restoration (1660), he wrote 18 plays, of which his broad comedies of manners are the best remembered. Epsom-Wells (1672), his greatest success, played for nearly half a century. After his friendship with John Dryden ended over differences in politics and dramatic techniques, both men produced satires attacking the other, Dryden's (including the devastating MacFlecknoe), being the more memorable. In 1688 Shadwell succeeded Dryden as poet laureate and historiographer royal.