Constable, Henry

(1562-1613)

   The son of Sir Robert Constable of Newark, Nottinghamshire, he was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge, but migrated to Paris where, being of the Catholic faith, he was more accepted. He served as the Pope's representative in Edinburgh in 1599, but when he returned to England he was imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1604, though released the same year. He died at Liege. His Diana-a book of 23 sonnets-was published in 1592 and is possibly the same book of poems he is said to have presented to King James in July 1600. He contributed four pastorals to England's Helicon (1600). His work is considered to have had an important influence on the development of the sonnet. Some of his poems: "Diaphenia," "Love's Franciscan," "Gracious Shepherd," "To His Flocks," "To Our Blessed Lady," "To Saint Margaret," "To Saint Mary Magdalen," "To the Marquess of Piscat's Soul."

   Sources: 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). The Anchor Antholog y of Seventeenth-Century Verse, Vol. II. Louis L. Martz and Richard S. Sylvester, ed. Doubleday Anchor Books, 1969. 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 Golden Book of Catholic Poetry. Alfred Noyes, ed. J.B. Lippincott, 1946. The Oxford Book of Christian Verse. Lord David Cecil, ed. Oxford University Press, 1940. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000.