Edmund Waller

Edmund Waller (1606-1687), English poet, born in Coleshill near Amersham, Buckinghamshire, and educated at the University of Cambridge. He was a member of Parliament, and during the reign of King Charles I he was first a supporter and then an opponent of the Parliamentarians in the struggles leading to the civil war. In 1643 he was involved in a Royalist conspiracy against Parliament known as Waller's Plot. He was arrested, fined, and banished from England, but was permitted to return in 1651. He continued to serve in Parliament until his retirement in 1677. Waller is important in the history of English poetry for his original use of the heroic couplet (see Versification). The clarity and flowing pace of his style were highly praised by the English poets John Dryden and Alexander Pope. His famous poem “St. James' Park” was published in 1661, and his collected works appeared in 1664.