John Gay

John Gay (1685-1732), English dramatist and poet, who was one of the outstanding writers of the neoclassical period in English literature. He was born in Barnstaple. His early poetry includes The Shepherd's Week (1714) and Trivia, or the Art of Walking the Streets of London (1716), the latter a studiedly artificial counterpart of Virgil's Georgics.

Gay is famous for his Fables (two series, 1727 and, posthumously, 1738), tales in verse considered the best of their kind in English. His fame as a playwright rests primarily on The Beggar's Opera (1728), a social satire that two centuries later inspired The Threepenny Opera (1928; trans. 1933) by the German dramatist Bertolt Brecht and the German-born American composer Kurt Weill. The Beggar's Opera, in various adaptations, is still popular. A sequel, entitled Polly (1729), was banned from the stage but was published and widely read. Gay composed the lyrics to many songs, including “'Twas When the Seas Were Roaring,” and he wrote many ballads, the most familiar of which is “Sweet William's Farewell to Black-eyed Susan.”