Francis Quarles
Who was Francis Quarles?
English poet
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Francis Quarles (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Francis Quarles was born around May 8, 1592, in the London Borough of Havering, Essex, into a well-regarded family. His father, James Quarles, was the Surveyor-General of victuals for the navy, providing the family with social respectability and financial stability. Francis was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge, starting around 1605, and later studied law at Lincoln's Inn, though he didn't pursue a legal career. His early years were marked by a strong religious sensibility that shaped almost all of his writing.
After completing his education, Quarles worked for Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, daughter of King James I, as her cupbearer after her marriage to Frederick V, Elector Palatine, in 1613. This role placed him at the center of early Stuart court culture and exposed him to the literary and intellectual trends of the period. He later served as secretary to James Ussher, the Archbishop of Armagh, during his time in Ireland in the 1620s. This experience with a leading church and scholarly figure deepened Quarles’s dedication to Protestant devotional writing.
Quarles returned to England and continued to write extensively, creating a body of verse paraphrases of scripture and devotional poetry. His works included versified versions of the Book of Job, Jonah, and Esther, which gained moderate success. He married Ursula Woodgate, and they had eighteen children, making for a busy family life alongside his steady literary work. In 1639, he was appointed Chronologer to the City of London, acknowledging his status as a writer.
The publication of Emblems in 1635 was the peak of Quarles's career, making him one of the most widely read English poets of the seventeenth century. The emblem book combined engraved images with verse meditations, drawing on biblical texts and Continental emblem literature. This format was hugely popular, and the work went through many editions well into the eighteenth century. A companion volume, Hieroglyphikes of the Life of Man, followed in 1638, continuing the same devotional and visual style.
Quarles was a dedicated royalist and supporter of the Church of England during a time of growing political and religious conflict. He wrote several prose works defending the episcopate and the king's cause as tensions between Charles I and Parliament increased. These writings drew hostility from parliamentary and Puritan opponents. He died in London on September 8, 1644, during the turmoil of the Civil War, leaving behind a family and a substantial literary legacy that remained significant beyond his time.
Before Fame
Francis Quarles grew up during James I's reign, a time when English literature was influenced by Protestant values, classical learning, and royal support. The tension between strict Calvinist Puritans and more ceremonial Anglicans was evident in the culture of his time. Quarles managed these tensions by writing poetry that was both deeply scriptural and accessible to everyday people. His education at Cambridge and Lincoln's Inn gave him a foundation in humanist learning, but he didn't pursue law or politics as a career.
His early work at the Stuart court and in Ireland connected him with important figures and exposed him to both courtly life and serious religious scholarship. These experiences helped him understand a wide audience, including educated clergy, the gentry, and literate tradespeople. By the 1620s, when he began publishing his poetic versions of biblical books, he had already developed a style that combined scriptural depth with clear, direct emotional expression, leading to the success of "Emblems," one of the most popular poetry collections of the century.
Key Achievements
- Publication of Emblems (1635), the most popular emblem book in English literary history
- Appointment as Chronologer to the City of London in 1639
- Authorship of verse paraphrases of multiple Old Testament books, including Job, Jonah, and Esther
- Publication of Hieroglyphikes of the Life of Man (1638), extending his emblem-book format
- Service as secretary to Archbishop James Ussher, one of the most eminent Protestant scholars of the age
Did You Know?
- 01.Quarles had eighteen children with his wife Ursula Woodgate, an extraordinary number even by the standards of seventeenth-century family life.
- 02.Emblems, published in 1635, was reprinted so frequently that it went through at least fifty editions by the end of the eighteenth century, making it one of the most widely read English poetry collections of the era.
- 03.He served as cupbearer to Elizabeth of Bohemia, the daughter of King James I, following her controversial marriage to Frederick V, which helped trigger the Thirty Years War.
- 04.Quarles was appointed Chronologer to the City of London in 1639, a largely honorary civic post that had previously been held by Ben Jonson and Thomas Middleton.
- 05.John Milton reportedly dismissed Quarles's popularity with some disdain, yet Quarles outsold most of his literary contemporaries for much of the seventeenth century.