Francis Beaumont (1584?-1616), English poet and playwright, best known for the tragicomedies he wrote together with John Fletcher. From about 1606 to 1614, the two collaborated on several plays (the exact number is disputed) that were very popular with audiences of the time. Beaumont attended the University of Oxford, England, but did not graduate. In 1600 he was admitted to the Inner Temple in London to study law. His first published poetry was Salmacis and Hermaphroditus (1602), which was put out anonymously. He contributed prefatory verses for the comedy Volpone by English playwright Ben Jonson, and he continued to contribute such verses to Jonson’s works until 1611.

Beaumont's first play, The Woman Hater, was probably written in 1605. His next published play, The Knight of the Burning Pestle (1607?), is a brilliant satire on the literary tastes of the London citizenry. He soon began his collaboration with Fletcher. The production dates of nearly all the works they wrote jointly are uncertain.

Beaumont and Fletcher wrote popular comedies, including The Captain (1613), The Coxcomb (1612), and The Scornful Lady (1613?). The comedies exhibit a vein of comic burlesque characterized by exaggeration. There is also a romantic element to these works that anticipates the style of the duo’s later plays. The pair’s first attempt at tragedy was the play Cupid's Revenge (1611?). Philaster, a tragicomedy dated around 1609, was their first great success. Their two masterpieces are The Maid's Tragedy (1610?) and A King and No King (1611).

Beaumont and Fletcher’s collaborative efforts are characterized by ingenious plots, diversified characters, and realistic dialogue. Their comedies, witty and sophisticated, foreshadow the licentious comedies of the Restoration. Most of the duo’s major plays consist chiefly of a series of incidents, rather than sustained development of character and action. Their plays remained incredibly popular until the closing of the theaters under the Puritan Commonwealth in 1642. Restoration dramatist John Dryden, in his Essay of Dramatic Poesy (1688), explained the favorable public response to the plays by citing their universal appeal.