biography
pronunciation:
[nayuhm]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1652–1715)
|
| biography:
| Poet and playwright, born in Dublin, Ireland. He studied at Dublin, and moved to London, where his first play was staged in 1678. He is known for his ‘improved’ versions of Shakespeare's tragedies, substituting happy endings to suit the popular taste, and with Dryden's help he wrote a second part to that poet's Absalom and Achitophel (1682). In collaboration with Nicholas Brady (1659–1726) he compiled a metrical version of the psalms. He became poet laureate in 1692. |
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