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of authorial personality which survives his work, and may have been the genesis of the "celebrity" of author, as he carefully crafted his public image throughout his career, beginning with his reworking of his otherwise frowned-upon occupation as a waterman into a name for himself as the King's "Water-Poet". Taylor provided a style of writing that was not bound by the constructs of classical learning, as most poets of the time would have been products of their grammar school education, whether they intended it or not. John Taylor's development of travel literature, which came into popularity in the 1500s, solidified his career and public image, and his travels were often funded through bets made by the public as to whether he would complete his journey.
558:
and his many genres, including satires, moral essays, funeral elegies (including an elegy for James I), and travel literature. Taylor ferried himself between the educated elite and the urban working class, bridging a gap in early modern readership that valued quality over quantity. This "cultural amphibian" of a poet struggled with his own cultural identity, remaining on the sidelines of the educated elite, but firmly tied to his occupation as a waterman, which defined his career in literature. This struggle highlights for scholars the gap in readership and literary culture between the elite and working classes in early modern London.
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in 1641, he believed there were over 40,000 in the company itself. He became a member of the ruling oligarchy of the guild, serving as its clerk; it is mainly through his writings that history is familiar with the watermen's disputes of 1641–42, in which an attempt was made to democratize the leadership of the
Company. He details the uprisings in the pamphlets
557:
Despite having been one of the most widely read poets in Stuart
England, there is a disparity between Taylor's contemporary acclaim and his modern obscurity. His volume of work was immense, resulting in almost 220 titles by 1642. The reach of his work had been broad, due to its use of the vernacular
176:
was the only passage between the banks. His occupation was his gateway into the literary society of London, as he ferried patrons, actors, and playwrights across the Thames to the
Bankside theatres. In 1620, Taylor claimed almost 20,000 men lived by this trade, including dependents and servants, and
561:
Despite his poor grasp of Latin, John Taylor aspired to be like his idols Thomas Nashe and Ben Jonson, and was heavily criticised by Jonson throughout his career for his lack of grace in his language. Despite failing to enter fully into the world of London's literary elite, Taylor developed a sense
138:. His occupation was one deemed unpopular by the literary elite of London. Watermen were known to be drunkards, and often gossips and liars, who attempted to cheat patrons into a higher wage for their service. This occupation would be crafted into an image for Taylor later in his career.
511:
The
Pennylesse Pilgrimage; or, the Moneylesse Perambulation of John Taylor, alias the Kings Magesties Water-Poet; How He TRAVAILED on Foot from London to Edenborough in Scotland, Not Carrying any Money To or Fro, Neither Begging, Borrowing, or Asking Meate, Drinke, or
127:. He did, however, attend elementary school and grammar school there. His grammar school education may have taken place at the Crypt School in Gloucester, however Taylor never finished his formal education due to difficulties with his Latin studies.
334:(5 volumes, 1870–78). Although his work was not sophisticated, he was a keen observer of people and styles in the seventeenth century, and his work is often studied by social historians. An example is his 1621 work
196:(written in 1613 or 1614). The move of theatres from the south bank to the north took a huge toll on Taylor's income, and despite at that time being in the company of the King's Watermen, he could not sway the
509:; i.e., he would propose a book, ask for contributors, and write it when he had enough subscribers to undertake the printing costs. He had more than sixteen hundred subscribers to
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tied to canes for oars, described in "The Praise of Hemp-Seed", which was re-enacted in 2006. From his journey to
Scotland in 1618, on which he took no money, Taylor published his
628:
A history of the administration of the royal navy and of merchant shipping in relation to the navy, from MDIX to MDCLX, with an introduction treating of the preceding period
925:
192:
Taylor discusses the watermen's disputes with the theatre companies (who moved the theatres from the south bank to the north in 1612, depriving the ferries of traffic) in
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207:(1622); recent development of horse-drawn carriages with spring suspension, and use of them for hire on land, had taken much trade away from the watermen.
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496:, a man who supposedly lived to the age of 152 and died visiting London in 1635. He was also the author of a constructed language called
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He was a prolific poet, with over one hundred and fifty publications in his lifetime. Many were gathered into the compilation
330:(London, 1630; facsimile reprint Scholar Press, Menston, Yorkshire, 1973); augmented by the Spenser Society's edition of the
514:, published in 1618. Those who defaulted on the subscription were chided the following year in a scathing brochure entitled
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826:
Mardock, James (1999). "The Spirit and the Muse: The
Anxiety of Religious Positioning in John Taylor's Prewar Polemics".
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881:"The Olde, Olde, Very Olde Man; Or The Age And Long Life Of Thomas Parr Poem by John Taylor - Poem Hunter"
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In the early 1590s, after his attempt at grammar school he moved from his home to south London, probably
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He achieved notoriety by a series of eccentric journeys: for example, he travelled from London to
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https://web.archive.org/web/20091026215839/http://www.geocities.com/thameswatermen/original.htm
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Taylor died in London in
December 1653 aged 75. He was buried on 5 December at the church of
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in print, in his 1620 poem, "The Praise of Hemp-seed". Both had died four years earlier.
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walked to
Scotland in the same year.) He is one of the few credited early authors of a
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https://web.archive.org/web/20030513234315/http://www.his.com/~rory/castle2.html
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Travels through Stuart
Britain: the adventures of John Taylor, the water poet
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After his waterman apprenticeship he served (1596) in the fleet of the
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Writing and
Society: Literacy, Print and Politics in Britain 1590-1660
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His parentage is unknown, as the parish registers did not survive the
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John Taylor was born in the parish of St. Ewen's, near South Gate,
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
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Works of John Taylor ... not included in the Folio edition of 1630
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934:. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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Taylor was also the first poet to mention the deaths of
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The True Cause of the Watermen's Suit Concerning Players
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Literature and Popular Culture in Early Modern England
631:. Boston College Libraries. London, New York, J. Lane.
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To the Right Honorable Assembly ... (Commons Petition)
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And those that staid at home had work at will :
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Do rob us of our shares, our wares, our fares :
992:Capp, Bernard (2004). "Taylor, John (1578–1653)".
973:The World of John Taylor the Water-Poet, 1578–1653
294:Or else their lines had perish'd with their lives.
758:Travel and Translation in the Early Modern Period
375:At Novum, Mainchance, Mischance (chuse ye which),
244:Shall find their number more than e'er they were,
236:Against the ground, we stand and knock our heels,
222:To trot by land i' th' dirt, and save their coin.
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467:Gives sucke to thousands and himself sucks non.
443:He's skilled in all games except Looke about ye.
238:Whilst all our profit runs away on wheels ;
104:(24 August 1578 – December 1653) was an English
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149:in that year, and in a voyage to the island of
569:The air was good and temperate where he dwelt;
254:A man could scarce see twenty in a week ;
216:All sorts of men, work all the means they can,
571:While mavisses and sweet-tongued nightingales
349:Trey-trip, or Passage, or the Most-at-thrice.
347:The Tailor, Millainer, Dogs, Drabs, and Dice,
203:He also addresses the coachmen, in his tract
998:(online ed.). Oxford University Press.
577:Of his long-lasting life may be some cause.
527:And though a white crow be exceedingly rare,
373:He flings his money free with carelessnesse:
328:All the Workes of John Taylor the Water Poet
252:Then upstart Hell-cart-coaches were to seek,
246:By half and more, within these thirty years.
39:, included in Taylor's 1630 poetry anthology
1080:"Archival material relating to John Taylor"
1041:https://web.archive.org/web/20091026215839/
853:Dimmock, Matthew; Hadfield, Andrew (2009).
575:Thus living within bounds of nature's laws,
463:And he himself sucks only drink and smoake.
310:Do live in spite of death, and cannot die.
300:Spenser, and Shakespeare did in art excell,
270:A coach in England then was scarcely known,
242:The great increase of coaches and of boats,
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961:: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
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549:. His widow, Alice, died in January 1658.
529:A blind man may, by fortune, catch a hare.
459:All sorts of people freely from his fists,
345:The Mercer, Draper, and the Silkman sucks:
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1056:http://www.nndb.com/people/463/000098169/
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518:, which he issued in the following year.
505:Many of Taylor's works were published by
416:At Tickle-me-quickly, he's a merry Greek;
404:Unto the keeping of four knaves he'll put
304:Sylvester, Beaumont, Sir John Harrington,
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567:He entertained no gout, no ache he felt,
516:A Kicksey Winsey, or, A Lerry Come-Twang
461:His vaine expenses daily suck and soake,
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306:Forgetfulness their works would over run
296:Old Chaucer, Gower, and Sir Thomas More,
272:Then 'twas as rare to see one, as to spy
220:And as it were in one consent they join,
218:To make a Thief of every waterman :
995:Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
825:
816:
573:Did chant him roundelays and madrigals.
435:, Whip-her ginney, he's a lib'ral hero;
343:The prodigall's estate, like to a flux,
320:A Swarm of Sectaries, and Schismatiques
298:Sir Philip Sidney, who the laurel wore,
274:A Tradesman that had never told a lie.
248:Then watermen at sea had service still,
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523:By wondrous accident perchance one may
302:Sir Edward Dyer, Greene, Nash, Daniel.
240:And, whosoever but observes and notes,
187:John Taylors Last Voyage and Adventure
160:He spent much of his life as a Thames
1035:http://www.bartleby.com/214/1812.html
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635:
108:who dubbed himself "The Water Poet".
991:
969:
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755:Biase, Carmine G. (1 January 2006).
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595:
525:Grope out a needle in a load of hay;
465:And thus the Prodigall himself alone
256:But now I think a man may daily see,
35:John Taylor: a portrait engraved by
698:"Programmes - Most Popular - All 4"
601:
457:Caroches, Coaches and Tobacconists,
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988:– the first full-length biography.
292:In paper, many a poet now survives
134:, to begin an apprenticeship as a
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1137:17th-century English male writers
1100:National Portrait Gallery, London
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455:His purse a nurse for anybody is;
308:But that in paper they immortally
948:Early Prose & Poetical Works
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645:Wheale, Nigel (18 August 2005).
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840:10.1080/0268117x.1999.10555452
790:"John Taylor | British writer"
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179:John Taylors Manifestation ...
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1070:Works by or about John Taylor
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441:: but (reader never doubt ye)
1012:UK public library membership
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976:. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
859:. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
625:Oppenheim, Michael (1896).
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1147:16th-century English poets
1132:17th-century English poets
1019:Chandler, John H. (1999).
926:Taylor, John (pamphleteer)
145:, and participated in the
778:– via Google Books.
673:"The Praise of Hemp-Seed"
476:in a paper boat with two
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1096:Portraits of John Taylor
736:The New Monthly Magazine
540:
16:English poet (1578–1653)
1142:Writers from Gloucester
951:. London & Glasgow.
931:Encyclopædia Britannica
828:The Seventeenth Century
794:Encyclopedia Britannica
553:Reception and influence
547:St Martin-in-the-Fields
172:, in the days when the
1004:10.1093/ref:odnb/27044
970:Capp, Bernard (1994).
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453:, no game comes amiss,
381:, or at Poor-and-Rich,
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945:Taylor, John (1888).
724:, pp. 10, 17–60.
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262:on the Thames can be.
232:, and Flanders mares,
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200:to prevent the move.
1084:UK National Archives
1061:Works by John Taylor
745:(July–December 1821)
482:Pennyless Pilgrimage
406:His whole estate at
281:William Shakespeare
120:on 24 August 1578.
1152:English male poets
324:
268:came to the crown,
1065:Project Gutenberg
1023:. Stroud: Sutton.
1010:(Subscription or
939:Secondary sources
733:"On Palindromes"
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702:channel4.com
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166:River Thames
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75:(1653-12-00)
1127:1653 deaths
1122:1578 births
903:Attribution
722:Taylor 1888
494:Thomas Parr
447:Shove groat
357:Tick tackle
102:John Taylor
23:John Taylor
1116:Categories
1014:required.)
890:30 January
813:Capp 2004.
799:30 January
761:. Rodopi.
615:, p.
583:References
535:(pt. VII)
490:palindrome
486:Ben Jonson
420:Primifisto
402:, New Cut.
118:Gloucester
92:Occupation
59:Gloucester
51:1578-08-24
957:cite book
613:Capp 1994
596:Capp 1994
499:Barmoodan
478:stockfish
189:of 1641.
185:, and in
157:in 1597.
132:Southwark
125:Civil War
112:Biography
834:: 1–14.
743::170-173
445:Bowles,
398:, Hole,
365:Draughts
361:Doublets
162:waterman
136:waterman
1098:at the
1072:at the
919::
774:25 June
707:25 June
682:25 June
512:Lodging
428:Primero
260:wherrys
226:coaches
153:in the
85:England
63:England
1008:
980:
913:
863:
765:
655:
451:Tennis
412:Gleeke
410:or at
408:Loadum
369:Cheese
322:, 1641
211:says:
170:London
155:Azores
151:Flores
81:London
541:Death
396:Whisk
392:Trump
384:Ruffe
367:, or
353:Irish
264:When
230:jades
978:ISBN
963:link
892:2019
861:ISBN
801:2019
776:2016
763:ISBN
709:2016
684:2016
653:ISBN
400:Sant
388:Slam
283:and
198:king
181:and
106:poet
95:Poet
70:Died
45:Born
1063:at
1000:doi
928:".
836:doi
484:. (
437:At
433:Maw
418:At
377:At
351:At
168:in
1118::
1082:.
959:}}
955:{{
883:.
832:14
830:.
818:^
792:.
700:.
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