Nashe (Nash), Thomas

(1567-1601)

   Born in Lowestoft, Suffolk, the son of clergyman, he graduated B.A. from St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1585-86 and by 1588 had settled in London, where he was one of the "University Wits." His burning hatred of Puritanism fueled his satirical pamphlets, written under the pseudonym of "Martin Mar-Prelate." For years he was involved in a feud with his bitter rival Gabriel Harvey (see entry). However, in 1593 he published Christes Teares over Jerusalem, in which he desires to live at peace with all men. This was aimed at Harvey, who rejected the overture; the feud picked up steam again and by 1596 Nashe was back at the attack. His play The Isle of Dogs (1597) attacked the state and so aroused the wrath of the Privy Council that Nashe spent several months in Fleet Prison. Some of his poems: "A Litany in Time of Plague," "Adieu, Farewell Earth's Bliss," "Autumn," "Fair Summer Droops," "In Time of Pestilence," "Spring, The Sweet Spring," "Thus Hath My Penne Presum'd to Please My Friend," "To the Right Honorable the Lord S."

   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). Poemhunter (www.poemhunter.com). 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 Faber Book of Blue Verse. John Whitworth, ed. Faber and Faber, 1990. The National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk). The Oxford Book of Death. D.J. Enright, ed. Oxford University Press, 1987. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000.