File:William_Congreve_by_Sir_Godfrey_Kneller,_Bt.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
William Congreve
Sign in to saveBritish writer (1670-1729)
OverviewAI-generated
William Congreve was a British writer who lived from 1670 to 1729. His literary output includes works such as *The way of the world*, *Incongita, or Love and duty reconciled*, and *A select collection of modern poems*. Various sources catalog his bibliography with differing totals, listing 5, 10, or 278 works.
Congreve is also associated with several quoted lines, including “Ah! Whither, whither shall I fly, A poor unhappy Maid” and “Defer not till tomorrow to be wise, Tomorrow's sun to thee may never rise.” He is referenced by 454 other encyclopedia articles.
Synthesized by Vinony from 18 facts across 8 sources: Wikidata, Last.fm, Crossref, Europeana Sparql, Wikiquote, MusicBrainz, Open Library, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1670
- Died
- 1729
- Works
- 278
Top works
- A select collection of modern poems
- Incongita, or Love and duty reconciled
- Metamorphoses
- The way of the world
- The commedies of William Congreve ...
via Open Library + Wikidata
Listeners · Last.fm
- Listeners
- 10
- Total plays
- 63
<a href="https://www.last.fm/music/William+Congreve">Read more on Last.fm</a>
Recent publications · Crossref
5 total works indexed
- VMD: Visual molecular dynamics
· 1996 · cited 62,873x
- Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure
· 1976 · cited 44,811x
- Comparison of simple potential functions for simulating liquid water
· 1983 · cited 39,511x
- QIIME allows analysis of high-throughput community sequencing data
· 2010 · cited 30,940x
- Preparation of Graphitic Oxide
· 1958 · cited 28,680x
via Crossref · CC0
Quotes
- “Ah! Whither, whither shall I fly,A poor unhappy Maid;To hopeless Love and MiseryBy my own Heart betray’d?”
- “Careless she is with artful care,Affecting to seem unaffected.”
- “Invention flags, his brain goes muddy,And black despair succeeds brown study.”
- “Defer not till tomorrow to be wise,Tomorrow's sun to thee may never rise.”
- “Pious Selinda goes to Pray’rs, If I but ask the Favour;And yet the tender Fool’s in Tears, When she believes I’ll leave her.Wou’d I were free from Restraint, Or else had Hopes to win her;Wou’d she cou’d make of me a Saint, Or I of her a Sinner.”
- “In my conscience I believe the baggage loves me, for she never speaks well of me herself, nor suffers any body else to rail at me.”
via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA
Key facts
- Born
- William Congreve , ( 1670-01-24 ) 24 January 1670, Bardsey , West Riding of Yorkshire
- Died
- 19 January 1729 (1729-01-19) (aged 58), London , England
- Resting place
- Poets' Corner , Westminster Abbey , London
- Pen name
- Cleophil
- Occupation
- Playwright satirist poet
- Language
- English
- Education
- Kilkenny College Trinity College Dublin (M.A., 1696)
- Period
- Restoration , Georgian era
- Genre
- Satire , parody , comedy of manners
- Literary movement
- Classicism , Restoration comedy, Restoration literature
- Years active
- 1693–1700
- Notable works
- The Old Bachelor (1693) The Double Dealer (1693) Love for Love (1695) The Mourning Bride (1697) The Way of the World (1700)
- Partner
- Henrietta Godolphin
- Children
- Mary Godolphin (illegitimate, 1723–1764)
- Relatives
- Lady Elizabeth Hastings (distant relative) , Cecil Ralph Townshend Congreve (descendant) , Sir William Congreve, 2nd Baronet (descendant)
via Wikipedia infobox
Works in European collections
10 objects attributed to William Congreve, held across European museums, libraries & archives · via Europeana
~12 min read
Encyclopedic overview
William Congreve (24 January 1670 – 19 January 1729) was an English playwright and poet. He played a major role in shaping English comedy, and is regarded by literary critics as one of the greatest playwrights of the Restoration period. The popularity of his plays in the late 17th and early 18th centuries was central to the development of satirical comedy of manners, and he became recognised as a seminal figure of Restoration literature. Although he wrote several commercially successful works, Congreve is best remembered today for his quotes, such as, "O fie, miss, you must not kiss and tell", and "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned".
He spent most of his early career between London and Dublin, during which time he was an apprentice to the English poet John Dryden and became noted for his highly polished style of writing. He initially wrote under the pseudonym Cleophil, and first achieved widespread fame beginning in 1693 when he produced some of the most popular English plays of the time. Congreve's best-known works include his plays The Way of the World (1700), which is regarded by commentators as a centerpiece of Restoration comedy literature, and The Mourning Bride (1697).
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “William Congreve” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.