William Sevenson (1540-1575), Gammer Gurton's Needle (1575). Wentworth Press, 2016. Courtesy Amazon.com.
William Stevenson (1530–1575) was an English poet and clergyman, presumed playwright of the early English language comedy Gammer Gurton's Needle.
Life[]
Stevenson was born in Durham, England.
He studied at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1553, his Master of Arts degree in 1560, and his Bachelor of Divinity degree, also in 1560.[1] Account books at Christ's College list him in 1550-1553 and again in 1559-1560 as involved in putting on plays, though they do not mention Gammer Gurton's Needle explicitly.
He became a prebend at Durham Cathedral in 1561.
Quotations[]
"I am so wrapped, and throughly lapped of jolly good ale and old!" Gammer Gurton’s Needle: Drinking Song (attributed to Stevenson and to Still).[2]
Recognition[]
His poem "Jolly Good Ale and Old" was included in the Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900.[3]
Publications[]
Play[]
- A ryght pithy, pleasaunt and merie comedie: intytuled Gammer gurtons nedle. London: Thomas Colwell, 1575.
See also[]
References[]
- ↑ Stevenson, William in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge University Press, 10 vols, 1922–1958.
- ↑ The Columbia World of Quotations
- ↑ "Jolly Good Ale and Old". Arthur Quiller-Couch, editor, Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1900 (Oxford, UK: Clarendon, 1919). Bartleby.com, Web, May 6, 2012.
External links[]
- Poems
- "Jolly Good Ale and Old"
- Stevenson, William (fl. 1553) ("Back and Side Go Bare") at Representative Poetry Online
- Books
- Gammer Gurton's Needle at Amazon.com
- About
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