{\b Thomas Campion}.

{\b Date of Birth}.: 12 February 1567

{\b Date of Death}.: 1 March 1620

{\b Works}.

English poet and composer. He is best known for his songs, for which he wrote 
both words and music. Most of these were issued in four books, beginning with 
A Book of Airs to be Sung to the Lute, Orpherian and Bass Viol (1601). In his 
Observations in the Art of English Poesie (1602) he attacks 'the vulgar and 
unartificial custom of rhyming', in spite of the fact that most of his own 
poems rhyme. Other works include Songs of Mourning Bewailing the Death of 
Prince Henry (1613) and several masques.

{\b Featured Works}.

'There is a Garden in Her Face', "Jack and Joan They Think No Ill", "Give 
Beauty All Her Right", "Maids Are Simple, Some Men Say", "Thrice Toss These 
Oaken Ashes in the Air", "When Thou Must Home to Shades of Underground", 
"Follow Thy Fair Sun, Unhappy Shadow", "When to Her Lute Corinna Sings", 
"Rose-Cheeked Laura, Come", "Follow Your Saint, Follow With Accents Sweet", 
"Kind Are Her Answers".

{\b General Comment}.Campion's parents died when he was still a boy, but they 
left enough money to send him to Peterhouse College, Cambridge, and Gray's Inn 
in London, where he studied law. He was first published in 1591, when five of 
his songs appeared in an illegal edition of Sir Philip Sidney's Astrophel and 
Stella. Four years later he published his own book, a collection of Latin 
epigrams called Poemata. 

Campion established his poetic reputation with his books of songs, which 
appeared between 1601 and 1617. These poems display a musician's ear, not just 
in his delicate 'word-music', but also in his preference for describing 
sounds, in contrast to the more conventional use of visual imagery. He rarely 
followed the poetic theories expounded in his Observations, and they were 
refuted by Samuel Daniel in his Defence of Rhyme (1603), but the book does 
contain his most famous poem, 'Rose-cheeked Laura, come'.

In addition to his lyrics Campion also wrote several masques which were 
performed at the court of James I. In his thirties he studied medicine abroad, 
probably in France or Holland. Once he had qualified as a doctor he divided 
his time between his writing and this profession for the rest of his life.