Dyer, Sir Edward

(1543-1607)

   Born at Sharpham Park, Somersetshire, he was educated at Oxford University, at either Balliol College or at Broadgates Hall (Pembroke College), but did not graduate. His patron at the court of Queen Elizabeth, in 1571, was the Earl of Leicester. He suffered poor health, attributed to falling into disfavor with the queen. Whatever the reason, the queen forgave him and sent him on two diplomatic missions to deal with land owing to the queen: to the Low Countries in 1584 and to Denmark in 1589. He was knighted in 1596 and appointed to the chancellorship of the order of the Garter. His most famous poem (some authorities doubt that it is his), "My Mynde to Me a Kingdome Is," was set to music by William Byrd (Psalmes, Sonets, and Songs of Sadness and Piety, 1588). "The Lowest Trees Have Tops" was set to music by John Dowland in 1603. Some of his other poems: "Coridon to His Phillis," "Cynthia," "The Shepherd's Conceit of Prometheus," "A Lady Forsaken, Complayneth," "Fancy, Farewell," "I Would It Were Not As It Is," "Where One Would Be."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). 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 New Oxford Book of Sixteenth Century Verse. Emrys Jones, ed. Oxford University Press, 1991. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000.