Biography

June 20, 1674 - December 6, 1718.

"Playwright, Poet, Editor. He was England's Poet Laureate from 1715 until his death. Rowe's tragedies "The Fair Penitent" (1703) and "Jane Shore" (1714) were staples of the English repertory for over a century. He also published the first attempt at a critical edition of Shakespeare's plays (1709) and was The Bard's first biographer. Burial was in Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey, where an elaborate memorial was dedicated to him in 1742. During renovations in the 1930s Rowe's monument was moved to the Abbey's South Triforium, and is no longer accessible to the public. An inscription on a bench notes the original site."