Creech, Thomas

(1659-1700)

   Born at Blandford, Dorset, of humble parentage, he received his classical training from Thomas Curgenven, rector of Folke in Dorset, master of Sherborne School. Educated at Wadham College, Oxford, under the tuition of Robert Pitt, he earned a B.A. in 1680, M.A. in 1683, and B.D. in 1696 and was elected a fellow in 1683. For two years (16941696) he was the headmaster of Sherborne School, but he then returned to Oxford, where his strange behavior caused concern. He suffered from depression and hanged himself. He was famed for his translations of Plutarch, Virgil and Ovid. His other translations and poems: Lucretius, 1682. Horace, 1684. Idylls of Theocritus, 1684. The Thirteenth Satire of Juvenal, 1693. The Astronomicon of Manilius, 1697. Some of his other poems: "De Rerum Natura" ("On the Nature of Things") (Lucretius), "Eclogues [of Virgil]," "Idylls [of Theocritus]," "To Mr. Dryden, on Religio Laici."

   Sources: Biography of Thomas Creech (http://68.1911encyclopedia.org/c/cr/creech_thomas.htm). Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition, 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Love to Know Encyclopedia (http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org).