Edward Bysshe (fl. 1712) was an English writer, remembered for his popular guide The Art of Poetry from 1702. While not respectable as a manual on verse-writing, it was used by leading authors. [1]
Bysshe's background is unclear. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography suggests that either Henry Bysshe of Buxted or George Bysshe of Burstow might be his father. [2] He worked as a hack writer in London. [3]
The Art of English Poetry (1702) is dedicated to Edmund Dunch and consists of three sections: [3]
The work was popular: a fifth edition was issued in 1714; a seventh, "corrected and enlarged", in 1724; an eighth is dated 1737. In 1714 the second and third parts were published separately under the title of The British Parnassus; or a compleat Common Place-book of English Poetry (2 vols.), and this was reissued in 1718 with a new title-page (The Art of English Poetry, vols. the iiid and ivth). [3]
Thomas Hood the younger reprinted Bysshe's "Rules" as an appendix to his Practical Guide to English Versification in 1877. [3]
Bysshe also edited in 1712 Sir Richard Bulstrode's Letters, with a biographical introduction and a dedication addressed to George Brudenell, 3rd Earl of Cardigan. In the same year there appeared a translation by Bysshe of Xenophon's Memorabilia , which was dedicated to John Ashburnham, 1st Earl of Ashburnham, and was reissued in 1758. [3] Bysshe was not involved by name in the 1715 edition of further works by Bulstrode, and that has been taken as an indication that he had died by that date. [2]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1886). "Bysshe, Edward (fl.1712)". Dictionary of National Biography . Vol. 8. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
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