Philip massinger biography

Philip Massinger (1583 – 17 March 1640) was an English dramatist.
Philip Massinger was an English dramatist.
Philip Massinger was an English Jacobean and Caroline playwright noted for his gifts of comedy, plot construction, social realism.

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Philip Massinger

English playwright (1583–1640)

Philip Massinger (1583 – 17 March 1640) was an English dramatist. His plays, including A New Way to Pay Old Debts, The City Madam, and The Roman Actor, are noted for their satire and realism, and their political and social themes.

Early life

The son of Arthur Massinger or Messanger, he was baptised at St. Thomas's Salisbury on 24 November 1583. He apparently belonged to an old Salisbury family, for the name occurs in the city records as early as 1415. He is described in his matriculation entry at St. Alban Hall, Oxford (1602), as the son of a gentleman. His father, who had also been educated at St. Alban Hall, was a member of parliament, and was attached to the household of Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke. Herbert recommended Arthur in 1587 for the office of examiner in the Court of the Marches.^[1]

William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, who would come to oversee the London Stage and the royal company as King James's Lord Chamberlain, succeeded to the title in 1601. It has been suggested t

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Philip Massinger (1583 - March 17, 1640) was an English dramatist famous for his plays throughout the 1600s. Born the second of five children to Anne and Arthur Massinger, he grew up as a commoner, attending Oxford College from 1602-1606. Although he left Oxford in 1606, without a degree, Massinger went on to write numerous plays, many of which were performed for the King and his court. From such performances, Massinger was named the chief playwright of the King's Men. His plays, including A New Way to Pay Old Debts,The City Madam, and The Roman Actor, are noted for their satire and realism, and their political and social themes. He died unexpectedly in his home, lying in his bed, in considerably good health, and just prior to the shut down of the English theaters as a consequence of the iconoclasm of the Puritan revolution.

Life

Early life

Born the second of five children, and only boy, to Anne and Arthur Massinger in 1583, Philip Massinger was baptized in the church of St. Thomas's Salisbury on November 24, 1583. He belonged to an old Salisbury family, whose

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Philip Massinger was born in 1583. He was imprisoned for debt in 1613. Massinger learned his craft by collaborating on plays with more established dramatists such as John Fletcher and Francis Beaumont. From around 1520, and through the 1630’s, Massinger composed plays primarily on his own. The works of the mature Massinger thus were contemporary with those of John Ford. When Massinger’s solo playwriting began, Shakespeare had already been dead for several years. Some critics have referred to him as the last great dramatist of the Elizabethan era.

Massinger was known to have written quickly and easily, and his characters’ speeches do indeed roll exceptionally smoothly and fluently. His verse has been called majestic and full of charm, and his powers of description capable of great beauty. A number of his scenes are among the most tender and touching of the entire period.

Massinger’s plots are more carefully worked out than are those of his contemporaries, and are never too complicated to follow. His plays generally start very strongly, but may end less convincingly.

Some critics