Who was Edmund Waller?
Edmund Waller (1606–1687) was an English poet and politician whose smooth and polished verses bridged the gap between Metaphysical complexity and Neoclassical elegance. He was better known for "Go, Lovely Rose", and his contributions to heroic couplets. Waller influences later poets like Dryden, Pope and other metaphysical poets.
Waller was born on March 3, 1606, in Coleshill, Buckinghamshire, England. He was from wealthy landowning family with Parliamentary ties. He was one of the cousins to John Hampden (a key Parliamentarian). He attended to Eton College then joins to King’s College in Cambridge (briefly). He has gone to Lincoln’s Inn to study law but he did not practice. He opted his political career in some parts of his life. In his death bed, at the age of 81, he was died on October 21, 1687. For his body's unnessary improvement of fat including in leg and others parts, he died shortly. This type of disease is called as 'Edema'.
Edmund Waller's Famous Poems
"Go, Lovely Rose" – A well-known love poem about the fleeting nature of beauty.
"Of the Last Verses in the Book" – A reflective poem on aging and mortality.
"The Story of Phoebus and Daphne Applied" – A mythological love poem.
"On a Girdle" – A short, romantic lyric about love and devotion.
"Old Age and Death" – A meditation on the passage of time.
"To a Lady in Retirement" – A poem on solitude and contemplation.
"On St. James's Park" – A celebration of the beauty of nature and order.
"Instructions to a Painter" – A political poem offering advice to an artist on how to depict war.
Legacy
He was the pioneered of the closed heroic couplet who paved the way for Augustan poets. He was one of the greatest poet as well as a politician. His poems embarks the thought beyond the world.