Author:William Davenant

Sir William Davenant
(1606–1668)

Sir William Davenant

Works

Poetry

• Madagascar; with Other Poems (1638) (transcription project)
• London, King Charles his Augusta, or, City Royal, of the founders, the names, and oldest honours of that City (1648)
• Gondibert: An Heroick Poem (1650) (transcription project)
• Wit and Drollery: Jovial Poems (1656)
• Poems on Several Occasions (1657)

Panegyrics

• "A Panegyric to his Excellency the Lord General Monck", George Monck (1660)
• "Poem, Upon His Sacred Majesties Most Happy Return to His Dominions", (on Charles II's restoration, 1660)
• "Poem, to the King's most sacred Majesty", to Charles II (1663)

Original plays, masques and operas

• Albovine, King of the Lombards, tragedy (ca. 1626-9; printed 1629)
• The Cruel Brother, tragedy (licensed 12 January 1627; printed 1630)
• The Just Italian, comedy (licensed 2 October 1629; printed 1630)
• The Wits, comedy (licensed 19 January 1634; printed 1636)
• Love and Honour, tragicomedy, also previously performed as The Courage of Love; and The Nonpareilles, or The Matchless Maids (licensed 20 November 1634: printed 1649)
• The Temple of Love, masque (licensed 10 February 1635; printed 1635)
• News from Plymouth, comedy (licensed 1 August 1635; printed 1673)
• The Platonick Lovers, comedy (licensed 16 November 1635; printed 1636)
• The Triumphs of the Prince D'Amour, masque (performed 23 or 24 February 1636; printed 1636)
• Britannia Triumphans, masque, with Inigo Jones (licensed 8 January 1638; printed 1638)
• Luminalia or The Festival of Light, masque, with Inigo Jones (licensed 6 February 1638; printed 1638)
• The Unfortunate Lovers, tragedy (licensed 16 April 1638; printed 1643)
• The Fair Favourite, tragicomedy (licensed 17 November 1638; printed 1673)
• The Spanish Lovers, or The Distresses, comedy (licensed 30 March 1639; printed 1673)
• Salmacida Spolia, masque (performed 21 January 1640; printed 1640)
• The Siege of Rhodes, Part I, tragicomedy (performed September 1656; printed 1656)
• The Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru, opera (performed and printed 1658)
• The History of Sir Francis Drake, history (performed 1658-9; printed1659)
• The Siege of Rhodes, Part II, tragicomedy (ca. 1657-9; printed 1663)
• The Playhouse to Be Let, comedy (performed ca. August 1663; printed 1673); includes Sir Frances Drake and The Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru
• The Man's the Master, comedy (performed 26 March 1668; printed 1669)

Revisions, adaptations and other productions for the stage

• The First Day's Entertainment at Rutland House, a "disputation" (performed 23 May 1656; printed 1657)
• The Law Against Lovers (performed 10 February 1662, printed 1673), a version of Measure for Measure mixed with Much Ado About Nothing
• Macbeth (performed 5 November 1664; printed 1674), an operatic adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth
• Greene's Tu Quoque (performed 12 September 1667; lost), based upon the 1614 edition of John Cooke's Greene's Tu Quoque Or, the Cittie Gallant, which had been made famous by the actor Thomas Greene's 1611 performance
• The Tempest, or The Enchanted Island (performed 7 November 1667, printed 1670), an adaptation with John Dryden of Shakespeare's The Tempest
• The Rivals (c. 1664; printed 1668), a revision of The Two Noble Kinsmen
• Hamlet
• Julius Caesar with John Dryden

Compendiums

• The Works of Sr William D'avenant Kt.

Works about Davenant

• "Sir William D’Avenant," in The Lives and Characters of the English Dramatick Poets (pp. 32−34), by Gerard Langbaine, London: Thomas Leigh (1698)
• "Sir William Davenant", in The Lives of the Poets-Laureate, by W. S. Austin and J. Ralph (1853)
• "D'Avenant, William," in Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, London: Smith, Elder, & Co. (1885–1900) in 63 vols.
• "Davenant, or D'Avenant, Sir William," in A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature, by John William Cousin, London: J. M. Dent & Sons (1910)
• "Davenant, Sir William," in Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed., 1911).