DENHAM,
Sir John(1615-1669),Poet and Spy
Sir
John Denham was born in Dublin, but was brought to England in 1617 by his
father, also Sir John Denham, to be educated in London and at Trinity College, Oxford.He
spent his childhood in Egham on an estate called Denham Place which was
situated in Vicarage Road where the Police Station is now.The house was
demolished in the middle of the 19th century.After Oxford, Denham studied law
in Lincoln’s Inn where he was “given more to dice and cards than to
study”.However he was called to the Bar in 1639.At the outbreak of the Civil
War, he joinedKing Charles I and was appointed Governor of Farnham Castle,
being imprisoned when it was captured by Roundhead forces.On his release, he
went to Oxford, where he produced in 1641 a tragedy called “The Sophy” which
was well received.In 1641 he published the first version of “Cooper’s Hill”,
the poem for which he is best remembered. He worked secretly for Charles I and
had to escape to Holland in 1648, later collecting money in Poland to support
Charles II and coming back to England on several occasions to spy on the King’s
behalf.At the Restoration he was appointed Surveyor-General of Works with Christopher
Wren as his deputy.He was created a Knight of the Bath in 1661.He is buried
in Poet’s Corner in Westminster Abbey.
The poem
“Cooper’s-Hill” was the first influential English poem in the topographical
genre and Samuel Johnson wrote in a biographical introduction to Denham’s
poems (1), “Coopers’ Hill is the work that confers upon him the rank and
dignity of an original author. To trace a new scheme of poetry has in itself a
very high claim to praise”.John Dryden wrote, “Coopers-Hill; a poem,
which for majesty of style, is, and ever will be, the standard of good
writing”.Alexander Pope celebrated “Cooper’s Hill” by imitating it in
his poem “Windsor Castle”
The poem was
published at least seven times in the 17th century, and there are two distinct
versions.The early editions are radically different from the 1655 edition.In an
article in 1957 (2), Professor Rufus Putney puts a different
interpretation on the whole poem, describing it not as a series of reflections
on the view, but as a view of England’s “political turmoil and imminent
peril”In conclusion, he states “The political position Denham sought to
persuade his countrymen to accept was intelligent and reasonable.That he
reached it painfully and stated it honestly the poem testifies.No argument
could transmute Cooper’s Hill into a masterpiece, but to read it in the
political context that provoked it is to gain new respect for the poet and
admiration for the poem”.
Various editions
of Denham’s poems, articles, biographical details, and other information
related to Sir John Denham (see listing) can be found
in the Oliver Collection which is housed in the Depository Library
Notes
(1). This biographical
introduction is contained in “The works of the English poets, from Chaucer to
Cowper”, edited by... Dr Samuel Johnson, vol. 7, 1810.
(2). “The view from
Cooper’s Hill”, by Rufus Putney in University of Colorado Studies, 1957.
Joan Wintour
Back to The other Exhibitions