John Oldham (poet)

John Oldham (August 9, 1653 – December 7, 1683) was an English poet.

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August 9 - 1653 - December 7 - 1683

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He was born in Shipton Moyne, Gloucestershire and received a B. A. degree from the University of Oxford in 1674. He took a position as an usher at Croyden School, where the Earl of Rochester visited him to compliment him on his poetry.

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Shipton Moyne - Gloucestershire - University of Oxford - 1674 - Earl of Rochester

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Oldham was a satirist who imitated the classical satires of Juvenal. His best-known works are A Satire Upon a Woman Who by Her Falsehood and Scorn Was the Death of My Friend, written in 1678 and A Satire against Virtue, written in 1679. His translations of Juvenal were published after his death.

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He died aged 30 in Holm Pierrepont near Nottingham, of smallpox. Dryden wrote an elegy on his death.

Related Topics:
Holm Pierrepont - Nottingham - Smallpox - Dryden

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