Charles Heavysege (1816-1876) was a Canadian poet and dramatist. He was one of the first serious poets to emerge in Canada, and his play "Saul" was hailed on its appearance as the greatest verse drama in English since the time of Shakespeare.

Charles Heavysege was born at Huddersfield, Yorkshire, left school at the age of 9, and was apprenticed to a carpenter and cabinetmaker. As a youth, he saw a production of Macbeth and bought a cheap edition of Shakespeare: Shakespeare and the Bible were the chief influences on all his own writings. Heavysege's first book of verse, The Revolt of Tartarus, appeared in England in 1852.

In 1853 Heavysege emigrated to Canada, settled in Montreal, and supported his large family by working as a cabinetmaker. A second volume of verse, Sonnets, appeared in 1855. His chief work, the long verse drama Saul, was published in Montreal in 1857. Coventry Patmore, reviewing Saul...