Watson, Thomas

(1557?-1592)

   Possibly educated at Oxford University, he became a law student and devoted his life to poetry. He wrote several Latin poems and translated into Latin the works of several Italian poets, including the sonnets of Petrarch (1304-1374). Some of his works were published posthumously, including the Latin pastoral Amintae Gaudia (1592); other works were included in The Phoenix Nest (1593) and in England's Helicon (1600 and 1614). He was mentioned as "Amynta" in Edmund Spenser's (see entry) Colin Clouts Come Home Againe (1589-1591). He was buried at the church of St. Bartholomew the Less, situated near St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London. Some of his other publications: Antigone, 1581 (a Latin translation from Sophocles). Passionate Century of Love, 1582. Aminta, 1585 (Latin translation from the Italian poet Torauato Tasso, 1544-1595). An Eclogue Upon the Death of Sir Francis Walsingham, 1590. Italian Madrigals Englished, 1590 (set to music by William Byrd). Some of his poems: "All Yee, That Greeue to Thinke My Death So Neere," "If Loue had lost his shaftes," "My Humble Sute Hath Set My Minde on Pride," "When Cupid is Content to Keepe the Skies."

   Sources: Davison's Poetical Rhapsody: Vol. II, of Francis Davison. A.H. Bullen, ed. George Bell and Sons, 1891. Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources (http://library.stanford.edu). The Anchor Anthology of Sixteenth Century Verse. Richard Sylvester, ed. Doubleday/Anchor Books, 1974. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. The Penguin Book of Bird Poetry. Peggy Munsterberg, ed. 1984. The Sonnet: An Anthology. Robert M. Bender and Charles L. Squier, eds. Washington Square Press, 1987.